Department of Labor, US government
Department of Labor, US government.DOL website

The US government has launched a probe into the likely violations of H-1B visa rules against two of the India's biggest IT companies -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, the American media reported on Thursday.

According to a New York Times report, the Department of Labour has "opened an investigation into two India-based outsourcing companies for possible violations of rules for visas for foreign technology workers under contracts they held with an electric utility, Southern California Edison".

The report says that Southern California Edison had recently laid off over 500 technology workers. "Many said they were made to train replacements who were immigrants on temporary visas, known as H-1B, brought in by the Indian firms, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys", the NYT report says.

The information was made public by Democrat Senator Richard Durbin and Republican Senator Jeff after being notified by the department, the daily reported.

The US government move comes days after the NYT had reported that around 250 Walt Disney employees had been laid off and replaced with Indians holding H-1B visas.