The US Department of Justice is stepping up enforcement against companies accused of favoring foreign workers over American employees, with technology and IT services firms facing growing scrutiny over how they recruit workers for green-card sponsorship.
The settlement is the largest announced by the DOJ in this area since Apple agreed in 2023 to pay $25 million to resolve allegations of discrimination against US citizens in its PERM recruitment process. The department has reached 13 settlements involving alleged hiring bias over the past 18 months under the Trump administration’s Protecting US Workers Initiative, according to Bloomberg Law.
The Justice Department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, or IER, has increasingly focused on the labor certification process known as PERM, attorneys told Bloomberg Law . In OpenAI’s case, the department said the company and subsidiary Statsig required outside applicants for PERM-related positions to apply by mail, while candidates for other openings could apply through an online system. Immigration attorneys told Bloomberg Law that the cases signal a broader shift in enforcement. “Compliance with DOL PERM regulations isn’t necessarily a shield in the DOJ antidiscrimination context,” Jihan Merlin, head of immigration strategy at Alma, told Bloomberg Law. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said the settlement would ensure recruitment practices change so US workers receive a fair opportunity. The DOJ said it has increased both independent and complaint-driven investigations into whether businesses unlawfully favor temporary visa holders over US workers.
The enforcement push comes as the Trump administration places greater emphasis on protecting US workers and examining whether employers give temporary visa holders an advantage in recruitment. DOJ concluded that the difference in application methods made it more difficult for US workers to compete for the positions. Companies may comply with Labor Department PERM requirements yet still face DOJ scrutiny if their recruitment practices are viewed as making it harder for US workers to apply. Harmeet K.
