Facebook will be liable to pay a large amount of $14.25 million in civil claims to the US government. The settlement comprises two separate amounts to be payed to the Justice Department and Labour Department on the counts of discrimination towards American workers and violation of federal recruitment rules.
The social-media company allegedly refused to hire American workers for jobs reserved for the temporary visa holders. The case against the Company centred around the use of the permanent labour certification, called the PERM programme.
According to a Facebook spokesperson, while the Company was able to meet the government’s standards in its permanent labour certification (PERM) practices, it is yet to reach an agreement with the government to end the litigation and move forth. The Company hopes to be able to continue to focus on hiring the best builders from both the US and around the world.
Facebook will pay a hefty civil penalty under the settlement, of $4.75 million, plus up to $9.5 million to the government- classified eligible victims of discriminatory hiring.
Facebook has also agreed in its recent settlement to train its workforce in anti-discrimination laws and advertise widely about its job vacancies in its permanent labour certification programme, which permits organisations to recruit foreign workers to work permanently.
The American Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Company in December 2020, alleging it was giving a hiring preference to temporary workers including those who hold H-1B visas. The bias lets the Company temporarily employ foreign workers in certain speciality occupations.
Apparently, the social-media company is paying up the largest civil penalties recovered by the Civil Rights Division in 35 years.
