Indian American engineer says he was fired by defense contractor after speaking Hindi at work

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Indian-American engineer says he was fired last year from his long-time job with a missile defense contractor’s Alabama office after he was heard speaking Hindi on a video call. Anil Varshney, 78, filed a federal lawsuit against Parsons Corporation. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin, whose department oversees the United States Missile Defense Agency, is also named as a defendant. The lawsuit says Varshney accepted a video call from his brother-in-law in an empty cubicle and spoke to him for approximately two minutes. The company then said he committed a security violation and fired him. In a response filed with the court, Parsons denied wrongdoing and asked for the lawsuit’s dismissal.