Extra Credit: They recruited IT staffers with the promise of a prestigious career. But there’s a catch — workers had to stay for two years or pay nearly $24,000

The pitch from Smoothstack, a technology-focused staffing agency, is simple: Earn money while you train, get deployed to an IT job at a top tech company, start working and launch your career. 

But the reality is more complicated, a lawsuit alleges. Throughout this process, Smoothstack underpays workers while they train and even once they start working at one of the company’s clients, which include Fortune 500 companies, the lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Alexandria, Va., claims. If a worker tries to leave Smoothstack…