Facebook To Pay Up to $14 Million To Settle US Employment Discrimination Claim
Facebook has agreed to pay as much as $14.25 million to
settle civil claims by the US authorities that the social media firm
discriminated towards American employees and violated federal recruitment
guidelines, US officers stated on Tuesday. The two associated settlements had
been introduced by the Justice Department and Labor Department and confirmed by
Facebook. The Justice Department final December filed a lawsuit accusing
Facebook of giving hiring preferences to momentary employees together with
those that maintain H-1B visas that permit firms quickly make use of overseas
employees in sure specialty occupations. Such visas are extensively utilized by
tech firms.
Kristen Clarke, assistant US lawyer basic for the Justice
Department’s Civil Rights Division, known as the settlement with Facebook
historic. “It represents by far the most important civil penalty the Civil
Rights Division has ever recovered within the 35-year historical past of the Immigration
and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision,” Clarke said in a call
with reporters, referring to a key U.S. immigration law that bars
discrimination against workers because of their citizenship or immigration
status. The case centered on Facebook’s use of the so-called permanent labor
certification, called the PERM program.
The US government said that Facebook refused to recruit or
hire American workers for jobs that had been reserved for temporary visa
holders under the PERM program. It also accused Facebook of “potential
regulatory recruitment violations.” Facebook can pay a civil penalty below the
settlement of $4.75 million, plus as much as $9.5 million to eligible victims
of what the federal government known as discriminatory hiring practices.
“While we strongly imagine we met the federal authorities’s
requirements in our everlasting labor certification (PERM) practices, we’ve
reached agreements to finish the continued litigation and transfer ahead with
our PERM program,” a Facebook spokesperson said, adding that the company
intends to “continue our focus on hiring the best builders from both the US and
around the world.” The settlements come at a time when Facebook is going
through growing US authorities scrutiny over different enterprise practices.
Facebook this month confronted anger from US lawmakers after
former firm worker and whistleblower Frances Haugen accused it of pushing for
larger income whereas being cavalier about person security. Haugen has turned
over 1000’s of paperwork to congressional investigators amid considerations
that Facebook has harmed kids’s psychological well being and has stoked
societal divisions. The firm has denied any wrongdoing.
In Tuesday’s settlements, the Justice Department stated that
Facebook used recruitment practices designed to discourage US employees
reminiscent of requiring purposes to be submitted solely by mail, refusing to
think about American employees who utilized for positions and hiring solely
momentary visa holders. The Labor Department this yr carried out audits of
Facebook’s pending PERM purposes and uncovered different considerations
concerning the firm’s recruitment efforts. “Facebook will not be above the
regulation,” US Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda told reporters, adding that the
Labor Department is “committed to ensuring that the PERM process is not misused
by employers – regardless of their size and reach.”
This story has not been edited by Blueplanet staff and is
published from a syndicated feed
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