Apple to pay $25 million settlement over illegally favoring immigrant workers
Apple has agreed to settle claims made by the U.S. Department of Justice that the company had illegally favored hiring immigrant workers over citizens or green card holders.
Apple Park
Laws surrounding hiring practices and labor discrimination are complex, and Apple claims to have unintentionally not been following a certain standard. The company is known for hiring a diverse workforce, but the latest violation is due to inadequate attempts to hire permanent citizens.
According to a report from Reuters, Apple will pay $25 million to settle claims made by the US DOJ. The claim asserts Apple illegally favored hiring immigrant workers over US citizens and green card holders for certain jobs.
A program called the permanent labor certification, or PERM program, requires companies to prioritize and hire permanent residents. Only after a certification process with the Department of Labor and US Citizenship and Immigration Services is complete, in which a company proves there aren't enough US workers available, can companies like Apple prioritize hiring immigrants.
"We have implemented a robust remediation plan to comply with the requirements of various government agencies as we continue to hire American workers and grow in the U.S.," Apple said.
The DOJ says Apple did not advertise job openings that were eligible for PERM on its website as it had for other positions. Apple also required paper applications by mail for the positions in question.
"These less effective recruitment procedures nearly always resulted in few or no applications to PERM positions from applicants whose permission to work does not expire," the DOJ said about its claim.
It was not disclosed which jobs were affected by the poor recruitment procedures or how Apple benefited from the situation. Apple is required to pay $6.75 million in civil penalties and $18.25 million to an unspecified number of affected workers, plus it will fix its recruiting to align with PERM standards.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
No, not "human nature", unfairly, nearly-exclusively beholden to their employer.
Wow, you should work for Apple.
Yes. There are numerous extensive studies over decades showing that a more diverse group will produce better work than non-diverse groups.
“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."
Certainly does look intentional. Perhaps it was no more than a simple effort to save money by hiring temp visa holders into psuedo-intern positions rather than permanent residents who would have expected better terms/pay.
The real issue is that Apple didn’t adequately identify which positions were PERM eligible, which left those permanent residents and green card holders who were hoping to leverage their advantage unaware of the job opportunity. I wonder how those who were affected will be identified, much less compensated? Since being hired was never a certainty, do they get compensated for not having an opportunity to apply for the job? Electronically of course.
...around Mar-a-Lago. Throw away the key.
https://internationaloffice.berkeley.edu/immigration/nonimmigrantvsimmigrant-status
So all of those that thinks "immigrant" means citizens of another country that are working here in the US on a temp work visa, are wrong.
An "immigrant" as defined by the DoJ are those legally living in the US that are not citizens. Non US citizens that marries a US citizen and living in the US, are considered immigrants and can remain in the US as long as they stayed married. They are not considered here on a temporary basis. Green card holders are "immigrants" that have obtain a green card and have permanent resident status. but not yet obtain citizenship.
>Apple has agreed to settle claims made by the U.S. Department of Justice that the company had illegally favored hiring immigrant workers over citizens or green card holders.<
If that statement is correct then Apple is accused of hiring people that are living in the US legally but have not yet obtain a green card over immigrants that have obtain a green card and those that are US citizens. In other words, over people that are living in the US permanently. Once again, nothing to do with hiring non citizens on a temp visa basis.
>Laws surrounding hiring practices and labor discrimination are complex, and Apple claims to have unintentionally not been following a certain standard. The company is known for hiring a diverse workforce, but the latest violation is due to inadequate attempts to hire permanent citizens.<
That probably should read .... permanent residents. US citizenship is permanent, no matter if born here or naturalized. Green card holders are not citizens. They are considered immigrants with permanent resident status, who has not yet obtained US citizenship. And there are Federal and State laws against employers requiring that only US citizens can apply for the job, where the job do not require one to be a US citizen. So long as they are legally living in the US and allowed to work.
>A program called the permanent labor certification, or PERM program, requires companies to prioritize and hire permanent residents. Only after a certification process with the Department of Labor and US Citizenship and Immigration Services is complete, in which a company proves there aren't enough US workers available, can companies like Apple prioritize hiring immigrants.<
If this statement is correct, then all those that thinks it's about Apple hiring non citizens by way of temp visas, are wrong. The statement, if correct, means that the DoJ is requiring Apple to prioritizing hiring applicants that are living in the US on a permanent basis (either by citizenship or a green card) vs those living in the US with just an immigrant status. Nothing about Apple hiring non US citizens under a temp work visa (nonimmigrant status).
>"We have implemented a robust remediation plan to comply with the requirements of various government agencies as we continue to hire American workers and grow in the U.S.," Apple said.<
Anyway, it looks to me that Apple targeted foreign hires in specific locations, IMHO new graduates from overseas universities, and distributing paper applications that had to be mailed restricted access to the process. Very few had access to the paper forms and sent them in, so Apple could go on to claim not enough citizens applied and hire the non-citizens they wanted. Tricky but effective. That's why I said "intentional" even if Apple might not have clearly understood the hiring method might be illegal. They do now, and have admitted as much.
Don't assume my "intentional" comment means I'm saying Apple knew it to be illegal. You would be wrong. I believe Apple intentionally avoided their typical applicants and hiring process and targeted certain potential hires outside of US citizenry. It was not a mistake; it was by design. That it turned out to be illegal is a separate but related issue.
So yeah, Apple now recognizes the process they used is not legal, which is what I said. You were misreading what I wrote.