More than 30 current and former employees of CISCO Systems have slammed a key government department of California for being "dishonest" in handling the high-profile case, which they said unfairly targeted both them and their employer.
"We are a diverse group of current and former CISCO employees. Due to misrepresentations made by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) in court documents against our organisation’s culture and ethics, we experienced a detrimental impact on our lives," the employees said in an open letter released by Caste Gate on Wednesday.
The letter also points out that the CRD’s case has damaged the image of businesses employing people of South Asian immigrant backgrounds and has made it difficult for them to be in Silicon Valley.
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An agency assigned with the noble duty of protecting civil rights was most blatant in abusing them, the letter said.
In the letter, the CISCO employees request that CISCO Systems actively pursue restitution on their behalf and noted that the CRD's concealment of crucial details has shattered their trust in the department's ethics and its ability to act as a neutral arbitrator on caste issues.
"This has hindered our careers and left a damaging scar on many lives. People avoided social interactions with many colleagues in fear of being subject to, or of being party to some form of perceived discrimination,” the letter reads.
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"Especially if they had an immigrant South Asian background, derogatory questions based on a person's ethnic background became common. Even the reputed Washington Post showed no concern in publishing anonymous letters with no credible supporting evidence generalizing that 'working with Indian managers is a living hell'. Thus demonstrating blatant racism. This took a severe emotional toll on us," alleged the letter.
“We find it necessary that the CRD apologise publicly and exonerate us of any implied guilt and in so doing help restore our reputations. In the absence of the above, this slander will accompany us to our permanent detriment," the employees demanded.
According to the letter, activist organisations, claiming to represent Dalits, opportunistically echoed the dubious accusations brought by the CRD against CISCO employees, leading to extensive negative press coverage.
"When allegations of caste discrimination against CISCO in 2020 rose, we were shocked to hear about an experience so different from ours. The lawsuit presented a poor view of our company, its people, and its culture. Even at a first glance, we found this view to be biased and not representative of our own experiences. We did not speak up then because we assumed better intentions from a state agency — especially since it is a state agency with an inclination towards liberal values and it had taken an unusual step to sue Cisco," the letter said.
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Allegations were presented as facts and hateful slurs like "those corporate malignant brahmins" were splashed in a trial by the media against the two Cisco engineers at the center of this dubious case.
Additionally, there were over 53,000 mentions of the hitherto alien word "caste" in US media and CISCO was continuously named in articles.
Employees endured a presumption of guilt that tarnished their reputations and propagated an emotionally charged narrative without objective public discourse, they alleged.
"As a result of the adverse publicity from the CRD’s hyperbole, all employees, especially immigrant South Asians were deemed responsible for degrading the culture at Cisco. Despite Cisco’s public statements, the reputational harm done to us has not been dispelled. Redress for this harm caused to our personal lives is likely not possible, and the time we have lost is gone forever. Without restitution, our reputations are tarnished permanently," CISCO employees said.
