By Lauren Feiner -
CNBC
Facebook reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to close with the payment of a fine the investigation opened for alleged discrimination against US workers in favor of immigrants with temporary visas, official sources reported Tuesday.
The tech giant also reached another agreement with the Department of Labor for possible infractions committed when hiring through the PERM program, which
makes jobs available to temporary visa holders
.
The company defended its hiring practices but agreed to a fine.Richard Drew / AP
The investigation stems from
a complaint filed under the Administration of former President Donald Trump
in December 2020, according to which Facebook discriminated against American workers by reserving certain positions for people on temporary visas from at least January 1, 2018 until at least January 1, 2018. 18th September 2019.
[Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram suffered a drop for hours due to a "faulty configuration change"]
Facebook agreed to pay
a civil penalty of $ 4.75 million
, under the terms of the agreement, and will make available
up to $ 9.5 million to compensate potential workers
who were not hired, according to a statement.
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"While
we strongly believe that we adhere to federal government standards
in our permanent labor certification (PERM) practices, we have reached agreements to end ongoing litigation and move forward with our PERM program, which is an important part of our overall program. immigration, "a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
"These resolutions will allow us to continue to focus on
hiring the best workers
, both from the United States and around the world, and to support our internal community of highly qualified visa holders seeking to obtain permanent residency" in the United States, he added. .
Endless bad news
An official from the Justice Department explained in a call with reporters that the Civil Rights Division will work with Facebook to identify those potentially affected and that the agency will ultimately approve the list of people eligible to receive compensation.
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Although
the fine is negligible for a company worth nearly a trillion dollars
, these deals add to the bad streak that the tech giant is experiencing.
Facebook has faced greater than usual scrutiny from the government in recent weeks after a former employee leaked thousands of internal documents to The Wall Street Journal and the Senate with alleged evidence of how its practices negatively affect some users. youths.
[Instagram is bad for young people and Facebook knows it]
The settlement figures represent the largest fine that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has achieved under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Facebook will also need to advertise better jobs under the program and take steps to ensure that its processes for filling those positions are consistent with its normal hiring practices.
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