Investigations that that began in 2019 revealed that Apple followed hiring practices that discriminated against US candidates for job roles that were given to certain immigrant candidates who wished to obtain permanent residentship in the US.
The inquiry also revealed that Apple discriminated against non-US residents too in some cases.
However, the tech major denied doing anything wrong or unlawful when it came to hiring practices. Its settlement documents stated that it had over 90,000 people in its workforce in the US and continues to be one of the major job creators in the country.
The company stated that it had ended up violating the standard set by the Department of Justice without intending to do so, and therefore, was ready to settle by paying $25 million.
Most of this amount would go into a fund that will benefit the victims who were discriminated against. The remaining amount will be the fine that was slapped on Apple for following wrong, unfair hiring practices in 2018-19, which were discriminatory in nature. The practices were alleged to have violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Apple recently lost a bid to prevent a mass lawsuit worth up to $2 billion alleging that it hid defective batteries in millions of iPhones. Apple, of course called these allegations baseless and sought to get the case thrown out of court. However, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has said that the case can proceed.
