Microsoft job cuts to affect American and foreign workers

04 March 2009

Microsoft Corporation's planned job cuts will affect both American and expatriate workers, the software giant wrote in a reply to Democrat senator Charles Grassley.

The planned job cuts will impact American employees more as foreign workers constitute less than 15 per cent of Microsoft's US workforce', Microsoft general counsel Bradford L Smith wrote in response to a letter from the senator.

Capping intake of foreign workers at less than 15 per cent would prove that the company is not `H-1B dependent.

"Workers on H-1B visas and other temporary work visas make up only a small percentage of our overall workforce, but they were also among the employees impacted by the reductions announced in January," Smith said, adding the company won't base its decisions on an employee's citizenship.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is cutting 5,000 jobs, mostly held by US citizens, who make up a majority of the workforce, Smith clarified.

Smith was replying to a letter written by Grassley to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer urging that Microsoft save jobs of US citizens when it came to cuts.