The Department of Justice filed a new lawsuit against Big Tech monopoly Facebook for engaging in pervasive and systemic discrimination against American workers, refusing to consider them for company positions and instead shepherding cheaper and more compliant foreign visa workers into more than 2,500 of the company’s high-paying jobs.
The Department of Justice alleges that Facebook created a category of employment offerings in which none or one American worker applied more than 99% of the time, and were almost never hired. Facebook didn’t advertise job opening it restricted to the “PERM” process on its careers website, instead exclusively recruiting visa workers.
“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 U.S. 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.”
The H-1B visa program is favorite of Big Tech, creating a class of employees who function as de facto indentured servants. H-1B workers are reliant on their employers for eventual American green cards, and leaving their jobs jeopardizes their immigration status. Some technology companies have been subject to large settlements for exploiting their bonded H-1B worker force.
“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 U.S. workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric S. Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division.
“This lawsuit follows a nearly two-year investigation into Facebook’s practices and a ‘reasonable cause’ determination by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Our message to workers is clear: if companies deny employment opportunities by illegally preferring temporary visa holders, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable. Our message to all employers — including those in the technology sector — is clear: you cannot illegally prefer to recruit, consider, or hire temporary visa holders over U.S. workers.”
The Department of Justice will seek civil penalties from Facebook on behalf of American workers discriminated against in the employment process, describing Facebook’s “discrimination against U.S. workers [as] intentional, widespread, and in violation” of immigration law.
Facebook has lobbied heavily in favor of raising annual visa workers levels, most recently boosting Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to remove per-country caps on H-1B visas. This will result in nearly all H-1B visas being given to nationals of a few large countries, such as India. Senator Lee succeeded in passing the migrant labor giveaway to Big Tech through the Senate on Wednesday.
