Prosecutors said that Facebook failed to make more than 2,600 positions available to Americans and other U.S. employees as easily as they were to foreigners following a two-year federal inquiry. Facebook will pay up to $14 million to settle claims it favoured foreign workers.
Facebook has agreed to pay up to $14.25 million to resolve charges that the business discriminated against American employees brought by the federal government in the last days of the Trump administration.
In December 2020, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging that the firm had refused to “recruit, consider, or hire” eligible US workers for thousands of positions. Instead, authorities claim, the corporation hired foreign workers on temporary work permits to fill those positions.
According to a news release, the settlement with the Justice Department included payments of $4.75 million to the government and up to $9.5 million to “qualified victims of Facebook’s claimed prejudice.” The total settlement is the largest ever collected by the agency’s civil rights division for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision. Separately, the corporation resolved concerns raised by the Labor Department earlier this year about whether it had broken labour laws.
The statements were made as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to persuade the country’s largest tech businesses to hire more Americans. The Obama administration toughened the standards for receiving an H-1B visa, which is popular among technology companies that hire foreign workers, including raising the salaries that companies must pay workers under the programme.
Facebook was investigated by the government for two years, looking into whether the business favoured H-1B visa holders and other temporary foreigners over Americans. Prosecutors eventually concluded that the corporation failed to make more than 2,600 jobs — with an average salary of $156,000 — equally accessible to Americans and other Americans as they were to foreigners.
“Facebook is not above the law,” said Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “Facebook must comply with our nation’s federal civil rights laws, which prohibit discriminatory recruitment and hiring practises.”
Andy Stone, a Facebook representative, stated that the firm believed they have met every one of the government’s requirements, but that the agreements would enable the company to move forward.
“These resolutions will allow us to keep our focus on employing the finest builders from the United States and throughout the world, as well as supporting our internal community of highly skilled visa holders pursuing permanent residence,” he said in a statement.
Under the terms of the settlement with the Justice Department, Facebook will have to improve its job advertising and make it simpler for Americans to apply for certain positions. The corporation must do more to recruit U.S. workers and submit to audits under a separate settlement with the Labour Department.
