Apple admits discriminating against US citizens through PERM program; paying $25M

Apple has admitted to discriminating against US citizens and green card holders when hiring workers through Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM).

It has been fined $6.7M, and has agreed to pay a total of $18.25M to compensate those who were victims of its “unintentional” discrimination …

The PERM program

PERM is a federal government program designed to make it easier for US companies to hire foreign workers who are in the the country on temporary visas. The program is most commonly used to hire foreign graduates from US universities.

Employers who want to hire foreign workers in this way can apply on their behalf for them to be granted permanent resident status (aka given Green Cards).

However, to ensure that foreign workers are not taking jobs which could be equally well done by US citizens and existing permanent residents, companies must advertise the jobs within the US in the same way they would with any other role. Foreign workers must be hired only when the recruitment process has failed to find suitable US workers.

Apple admits it failed to comply

Apple has admitted that it failed to comply with the requirement to advertise the positions to US workers. It says this was inadvertent, and it has now fixed the problem, reports CNBC.

Apple was accused of not advertising positions on its external website and erecting hurdles such as requiring mailed paper applications, which the DOJ alleges means that some applicants to Apple jobs were not properly considered under federal law […]

“These less effective recruitment procedures deterred U.S. applicants from applying and nearly always resulted in zero or very few mailed applications that Apple considered for PERM-related job positions, which allowed Apple to fill the positions with temporary visa holders,” according to the settlement agreement between Apple and DOJ.

The Cupertino company said that it had “unintentionally not been following the DOJ standard,” and has now fixed the problem.

Apple paying $25 in fines and compensation

Apple has been fined $6.75M, and will pay a further $18.25M to compensate those who were discriminated against during the hiring process. This will take the form of pay they would have received had they been hired at the time. (Reading between the lines, it seems that they were subsequently hired, and will receive back-pay from the date they would have started.)

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