The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that Apple has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve allegations that the corporation had improperly given preference to foreign workers for specific positions over citizens and holders of green cards.
According to a statement from the Justice Department, Apple violated a federal law that forbids discrimination based on citizenship by not hiring U.S. citizens or permanent residents for positions that qualified for a government programme that allows firms to sponsor foreign workers for green cards.
According to the Justice Department, this settlement represents the biggest one it has ever reached over claims of citizenship-based discrimination. In addition to paying $18.25 million to an unidentified number of impacted workers, Apple must also pay $6.75 million in civil penalties.
Apple claimed to have “unintentionally not been following the DOJ standard” in a statement.
“As we continue to hire American workers and grow in the U.S., we have implemented a robust remediation plan to comply with the requirements of various government agencies,” the business stated.
As it regularly does for other positions, the Justice Department claims that Apple failed to post job postings that qualified for the permanent labour certification, or PERM, programme on its website. Additionally, the department stated that although the corporation typically accepts electronic applications, it required applicants for certain positions to mail paper applications.
“Applicants whose work permit does not expire almost always applied in small numbers or not at all for PERM positions as a result of these less effective recruitment procedures,” the government stated