WASHINGTON, Oct 19 Reuters: If the Social media company violated other federal recruitment rules will pay up to $14.25 million to settle civil claims brought by the U.S. government that the social media company discriminated against workers and discriminated against non-Federal employees, the U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
Two related settlements were announced by the U.S. Justice Department and Labor Department. The Justice Department announced last December that it would be filing a lawsuit https:www.reuters.gov/lawnviewers.html. com articles U-Jointice Facebook Justice-Department - accuses-facebook of discriminating against-u staffers - idUSL 1 N 2 IJ 25 R that accused Facebook of giving special hiring preferences to temporary workers, including those who hold H-1) B visas that let companies temporarily employ foreign workers in certain specialty occupations. Such visas are widely used by tech companies.
Kristen Clarke, assistant U.S. attorney general for the Justice Department civil rights division called the deal with Facebook historic.
It represents by far the largest civil penalty the Civil Rights Division has recovered in the 35 - year history of the Immigration and Nationality Act's anti-discrimination provisions, Clarke said in a call with reporters referring to a key U.S. immigration law.
The case centered on Facebook's use of permanent labor certification, which is called the PERM program.
The U.S. government said that Facebook refused to recruit or hire U.S. workers for jobs reserved under the PERM program which had been reserved for temporary visa holders. It also accuses Facebook of potential regulatory recruitment violations. Facebook will pay a civil penalty under the settlement of $.75 million, plus up to $9.5 million to eligible victims of discriminatory hiring practices by the government.