Who will be most impacted by the Microsoft’s job cuts – American employees or foreign employees? This certainly is the question that is being hotly discussed presently around the Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington based Headquarter. 

Software producer Microsoft is facing a lot of criticism that American employees will be impacted more than its foreign employees because of the company’s job cuts.

Responding to the criticism, Microsoft on Tuesday stated that its job cuts will not be based on employee's citizenships. Microsoft General Counsel Bradford L. Smith, in a letter to U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, D-Iowa, said that “the company won't base its decisions in the U.S. on an employee's citizenship”.

However, Smith clarified that the company’s plan to cut 5,000 jobs will most impact the employees working in the company’s Redmond, Washington based workforce, which has the U.S. citizens in majority.

Smith said, "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 told that H-1B employees make up less than 15% of Microsoft's U.S. workforce.

The letter that Bradford L Smith wrote to U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, on March 3, has been posted on the company’s website microsoftontheissues.Com.

Earlier in January, through a letter to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, Grassley urged Microsoft to prioritize U.S. citizens over foreign workers when it came to the cuts.

Grassley wrote, "During a layoff, companies should not be retaining H-1B or other work visa program employees over qualified American workers."