Indian-American engineer fired for talking in Hindi over a video call with his relative

An Indian-American engineer working with a missile defence contractor in the US was fired from his long-time job after one of his colleagues heard him speaking in Hindi. The 78-year-old employee was talking to his dying relative in India over a video call when a colleague heard him speaking in his native language, amedia report quoted a lawsuit filed by him.

Anil Varshney, a 78-year old Senior Systems Engineer in Alabama-based missile defence contractor Parsons Corporation, recently filed a federal lawsuit alleging systemic discriminatory actions that left him jobless in October last year.

Co-worker was ‘intimidated’ by a foreign language

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A white American co-worker heard Varshney speaking in Hindi on his mobile with his dying brother-in-law in India, AL.COM reported on Monday.

Varshney on 26 September 2022 “received a video call from his elderly brother-in-law KC Gupta, [who] was on his deathbed in India and called to say goodbye to Varshney".

“Knowing the dire situation and that he may never have the opportunity to speak to (Gupta) again, Varshney stepped into an empty cubicle and accepted the call,” the suit said.

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“Before doing so, he made sure there were no classified materials or anything else pertaining to MDA’s (Missile Defence Agency) or Parsons’ work anywhere near him,” said the lawsuit, which also names Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin as legal representative for the MDA.

The two spoke for about two minutes in Hindi when another worker interrupted Varshney and asked whether he was on a video call, which he confirmed, as per the suit filed in June.

The suit claims the other worker was “intimidated by Varshney speaking in a language he did not understand” and “falsely and intentionally” reported that the Indian-American “committed a security violation by revealing confidential information and/or accepting this call during a confidential meeting or with confidential information in the background".

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“Despite there being no policy prohibiting the call, and without any investigation, the defendants claimed Varshney committed a serious security violation and fired him. Worse, they blackballed him from future [Missile Defence Agency] work, effectively ending his career and life of service to MDA and the US government,” the lawsuit said.

MDA security personnel opened and searched through every file in his cubicle and through his personal belongings. He was humiliated and accused of being a spy simply for speaking in a foreign language.

Varshney immigrated to the US in 1968 and settled in Huntsville where the familybecame American citizens. His wife Sashi has worked at NASA since 1989.

(With inputs from agencies)

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