Phaneesh Murthy terms new sex harassment case 'garbage'
Monday, 06 October 2003, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: Former Infosys Technologies director Phaneesh Murthy Sunday termed as "complete garbage" a new sexual harassment charge against him by a former employee, but the IT bellwether said the development would not impact the company. Murthy's current employer, iGate global solutions, too said the charge by Jennifer Griffith, who worked with him for a month in Infosys, was "without foundation". "I want to fight the hell out of this because I am just outraged and appalled by this absolute garbage," Murthy said in a tele-conference from California with Indian journalists. "My wife and I have talked it over and we are committed to dip into our retirement funds to fight the case," he said, asserting that Griffith did not even report to him while at Infosys and that he did not know her "very well". Murthy had quit Infosys after another former employee, Reka Maximovitch, filed a sexual harassment case against him. That case was settled in May after Infosys agreed to pay $3 million in an out of court settlement. The company also reserved the right to proceed against Murthy. Murthy and Infosys Technologies are yet to receive notices of Griffith's lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of Alameda County in California. But the two parties have learnt it was filed a few days ago. "The first time she came and made noises was when (Infosys) decided to settle the previous case (filed by Maximovitch) for $1 million. The second time, her lawyers (who had also represented Maximovitch) approached me to find out if we could settle the case without going to court," Murthy said. "Finally, the case was filed just after I took charge as CEO of iGate. It is clearly motivated by money," Murthy said, making it clear Griffith had not specified any amount in her lawsuit. Murthy said Griffith had not even reported to him at Infosys. She was attached to the regional manager but she had taken dictations from him for a month on the status of the financial sector of the industry. "I was dictating my thoughts to her and she was doing the writing. This is just so weird that a person not even reporting to me should file such a case. I did not know her very well and her performance was below par," he said. Earlier, in a statement, Murthy had termed Griffith's allegation as "the most blatant example of taking advantage of the public news of a prior settlement". Infosys said in a statement that Griffith's "lawsuit has not yet been served on the company and Infosys is still reviewing the complainant's allegations. "Based on its present knowledge of the facts, the lawsuit will not, in the opinion of management, have a material effect on the results of operations or the financial position of the company." Phaneesh's current employer Sunil Wadhwani, chairman of iGate global solutions, said: "Phaneesh had made us aware of the possibility of this development and we have done our due diligence. We believe the allegations to be without foundation. We have complete confidence in Phaneesh." Infosys had said in May that Phaneesh was initially reluctant to sign the settlement with Maximovitch, but "came back voluntarily and agreed to every condition" that it had set.
Source: IANS
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