The triggering Grassley's letter to Clinton and U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano was filed in late February by Jay Palmer, a principal consultant at Infosys. Palmer alleges that he was threatened and harassed after refusing to help the company bring workers in on B-1 visitors visas for work he believed required H-1B visas.

Grassley's letter raises the profile -- and the potential implications -- of a case that began in an Alabama state court.

Aside from the civil case, Palmer is cooperating with federal investigators, according to his attorney, Kenneth Mendelsohn, of Montgomery, Ala. They are . The agency now looking into the case has not been identified, and what may come of this federal involvement remains unclear.

But Grassley's letter to Clinton and Napolitano may turn the case into a bigger issue for Infosys, as well as for any company that uses a B-1 visa.

Grassley is one of the leading critics in Congress of the H-1B visa program, but the Infosys lawsuit has drawn his attention to the B-1 visa. His inquiries and demands for review of the B-1 by these federal departments could lead to changes in the visa program.