The Department of Justice filed suit against Facebook on Thursday, claiming the tech behemoth failed to adequately consider U.S. workers for more than 2,600 positions at the company over a two-year span.
DOJ alleged Facebook “engaged in intentional and widespread violations of the law” through its hiring practices, which department officials said gave illegal and preferential treatment to temporary visa holders in the United States ahead of citizens of the country.
“This lawsuit follows a nearly two-year investigation into Facebook’s practices and a ‘reasonable cause’ determination by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division wrote. “Our message to workers is clear: if companies deny employment opportunities by illegally preferring temporary visa holders, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable. Our message to all employers — including those in the technology sector — is clear: you cannot illegally prefer to recruit, consider, or hire temporary visa holders over U.S. workers.”
The lawsuit alleged that between Jan. 1, 2018, and lasting until at least Sept. 18, 2019, Facebook “employed tactics” to boost the hiring of temporary visa applicants as part of the permanent labor certification process, also known as PERM. DOJ said Facebook “intentionally created a hiring system” that failed to give a “fair opportunity” for U.S. applicants to learn about and apply for a number of jobs at Facebook that averaged salaries of about $156,000 a year.
The suit claimed that zero to one U.S. worker were among the applicants for 99.7% of Facebook’s PERM positions, and the department is seeking civil penalties including back pay for “U.S. worker[s] denied employment at Facebook due to the alleged discrimination in favor of temporary visa holders.”
