The Department of Justice (DOJ) on December 3 declared it had filed a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the social media company favored temporary visa holders over American workers.
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against Facebook
The lawsuit indicated that between January 2018 and September 2019, Facebook declined to recruit, hire, or consider eligible and available United States workers for more than 2,600 positions with an average salary of an estimated $156,000.
It alleged that the social media giant reserved the jobs for foreigners with temporary H-1B and other visas it wanted to sponsor for green cards.
Data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicated Facebook was one of the top five recipients of the all-new H-1B visas issued in FY2019.
Facebook was one of the top six companies sponsoring green cards for employees during the duration, reported The Economic Times.
Using temporary H-1B visas is usually used by tech companies to bring skilled foreign workers to the U.S.
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The Department of Justice stated, "According to the lawsuit, and based on the department's nearly two-year investigation, Facebook intentionally created a hiring system in which it denied qualified US workers a fair opportunity to learn about and apply for jobs that Facebook instead sought to channel to temporary visa holders Facebook wanted to sponsor for green cards," reported Silicon.
According to Assistant Attorney General Eric S. Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division, "The Department of Justice's lawsuit alleges that Facebook engaged in intentional and widespread violations of the law, by setting aside positions for temporary visa holders instead of considering interested and qualified US workers," reported Yahoo.
Dreiband continued that the suit follows an almost two-year probe into the social media platform's practices and a "reasonable cause" determination by the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.
Most H-1B visas are awarded to Indian and Chinese citizens. Data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services indicated over 420,000 applicants for the 85,000 available H-1B work visas in fiscal 2019.
The temporary visa holders (including H-1B visa holders) were allegedly preferred for work associated with the PERM process.
As per the complaint, instead of initiating a genuine search for eligible and available American workers for permanent positions attempted to obtain by the temporary visa holders, the social network firm reserved the positions for temporary visa holders due to their immigration status.
American businesses that prefer to hire foreign workers should go through the permanent labor certification process. It necessitates companies to initially prove there are no eligible and available United States workers for the positions they seek to vacate.
According to the DOJ, its nearly two-year probe determined that the company failed to establish a genuine search for eligible domestic workers and intentionally saved thousands of jobs for foreigners.
As per the DOJ's lawsuit, the PERM jobs were reportedly not promoted on career websites. Applicants were required to apply by postal mail only. The PERM process is supervised by the Department of Labor. It is stipulated that a firm should demonstrate there are no qualified American workers available for a job before the said position could be offered to a temporary visa holder.
