Indian Worker Files Lawsuit Over Illegal H-1B 'Benching' and USD 1,00,000 Extortion in Texas; Here's Why

An Indian H-1B visa holder has filed a federal lawsuit in Texas against his employer, accusing him of human trafficking, forced labour, and demanding nearly USD 100,000 in coerced payments to maintain his legal immigration status. The plaintiff, Rishikesh Raj Meesala, claims that when he questioned these financial demands, his Indian-American employer, Sai Jitender Kalagra, threatened to report him to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and made retaliatory threats against his father. The legal complaint was filed by the immigration litigation firm Banias Law. The allegations have not yet been proven in court.

Allegations of 'Benching' and Coerced Payments

According to court documents, Meesala originally entered the United States on an F-1 student visa and completed his master’s degree in December 2023. In March 2024, Kalagra recruited him for an H-1B role at Progress, a Texas-based company, promising a legal career path toward permanent residency and eventual US citizenship. Indian CEO Neeraj Sharma Among 17 Targeted for Alleged H-1B Visa Fraud in US Denaturalisation Drive, Citizenship Revocation Sought.

However, the lawsuit claims that upon his official start date on October 1, 2024, Meesala was immediately placed on the "bench" - an industry term used when an IT employee is kept on the payroll but not assigned to an active client project. The complaint alleges that the company refused to pay Meesala while he was on the bench. Instead, management allegedly forced him to fund his own salary and pay the company massive sums of money just to keep his employment active. Fearing the immediate loss of his legal status, Meesala reportedly delivered approximately USD 8,800 in cash directly to the company's Plano office.

Exploitation of Immigration Vulnerability

The lawsuit details how the company allegedly utilised Meesala's immigration status as leverage. To transfer jobs, renew visas, or prove legal status to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), H-1B employees require consistent pay stubs and payroll records. The complaint alleges that Kalagra and his company intentionally withheld these crucial documents unless Meesala complied with additional cash demands. The legal filing states, "Progress and Kalagara know that USCIS requires regular pay rolls to be run for any extension or transfer H-1B application. Thus, by threatening to forgo payroll, Progress and Kalagara were implicitly threatening Rishi with his immigration status. If they didn't run Rishi's payroll, Rishi would not be able to maintain, extend, or transfer his H-1B."

When Meesala resisted, the intimidation escalated. The company allegedly demanded an additional USD 10,700 for miscellaneous filing fees and expenses, threatening to revoke his visa entirely. In November 2025, the company also allegedly intercepted Meesala’s personal Gmail account to monitor whether he was consulting legal counsel. Furthermore, Kalagra allegedly warned Meesala's father that he would "let ICE deal with it" if his son filed an official complaint. H-1B Visa Fee Update: US Federal Court Strikes Down Trump Administration’s USD 100,000 Levy Following Multistate Legal Challenge.

Legal Claims and the H-1B System

Banias Law argues that the defendants’ actions constitute labour trafficking, forced labour, and document servitude under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The lawsuit asserts that the firm owes Meesala at least USD 97,248.94 in unpaid wages and extorted fees, alongside damages for mental anguish and panic attacks. Under U.S. Department of Labour regulations, employers are strictly prohibited from passing visa sponsorship costs onto H-1B workers. Furthermore, federal law mandates that employers must continue to pay the required wage to an H-1B worker even when they are "benched" due to a lack of available work.

The case highlights long-standing concerns regarding the structural vulnerability of foreign professionals under the H-1B program. The visa is heavily relied upon by the U.S. tech and engineering sectors, with Indian nationals receiving 71 per cent of all approved H-1B petitions in fiscal year 2024. Immigrant rights advocates note that because a worker's right to remain in the U.S. is tied directly to their employer, it creates a severe power imbalance that open-market bad actors can easily exploit. Neither Progress nor Sai Jitender Kalagra have publicly commented on the active litigation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 17, 2026 07:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).