[US] Apple will pay $25m to resolve hiring discrimination allegations

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Apple will be paying up to $25 million to resolve discrimination practices that it allegedly committed under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), HRD reports.

On November 9, the DOJ announced that the tech giant had agreed to pay $6.75 million in civil penalties and establish an $18.25 million back-pay fund for eligible discrimination victims.

The DOJ reportedly said that it is the biggest award the department has recovered under the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.

Apple has been accused of engaging in a pattern of discriminatory recruitment based on citizenship status for positions it attempted to fill through the permanent labour certification programme (PERM).

PERM allows employers to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the US.

The DOJ said it found reasonable cause that Apple "preferred workers holding temporary employment visas for PERM-related positions based on their citizenship status instead of qualified and available U.S. applicants."

"Apple followed different procedures designed to favour the temporary visa holder and deter U.S. applicants," the Settlement Agreement published by the DOJ said.

These procedures included the tech giant reportedly failing to advertise positions on its external job website and requiring all applicants to mail paper applications.

"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 positions, which allowed Apple to fill the positions with temporary visa holders," the DOJ document said.

Apple reportedly denied that it engaged in these discriminatory practices and maintained that it followed the recruitment steps under the PERM programme.

It stated that the alleged failures were the result of "inadvertent error and not intentional discrimination."

The tech giant said that agreeing in the settlement was not Apple's admission to any guilt or liability.

A spokesperson from Apple reportedly told CNBC that the company had agreed to a settlement after realising it had "unintentionally not been following the DOJ standard."

"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.," the spokesperson said.

Settlement terms

On top of the millions in penalties and back pay, the settlement will require Apple to post PERM positions on its external job website.

In addition, it will see the tech giant accept electronic applications and enable PERM positions to be searchable in its applicant tracking system.

Apple will also reportedly be required to train its employees on INA's anti-discrimination requirements and will be under departmental monitoring for a three-year period.

Assistant Attorney-General Kristen Clarke from the DOJ's Civil Rights Division said the resolution reflects the division's commitment to ending illegal discriminatory employment practices.

"Creating unlawful barriers that make it harder for someone to seek a job because of their citizenship status will not be tolerated," Ms Clarke said in a statement.

Source: HRD

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Apple will be paying up to $25 million to resolve discrimination practices that it allegedly committed under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), HRD reports.

On November 9, the DOJ announced that the tech giant had agreed to pay $6.75 million in civil penalties and establish an $18.25 million back-pay fund for eligible discrimination victims.

The DOJ reportedly said that it is the biggest award the department has recovered under the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.

Apple has been accused of engaging in a pattern of discriminatory recruitment based on citizenship status for positions it attempted to fill through the permanent labour certification programme (PERM).

PERM allows employers to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the US.

The DOJ said it found reasonable cause that Apple "preferred workers holding temporary employment visas for PERM-related positions based on their citizenship status instead of qualified and available U.S. applicants."

"Apple followed different procedures designed to favour the temporary visa holder and deter U.S. applicants," the Settlement Agreement published by the DOJ said.

These procedures included the tech giant reportedly failing to advertise positions on its external job website and requiring all applicants to mail paper applications.

"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 positions, which allowed Apple to fill the positions with temporary visa holders," the DOJ document said.

Apple reportedly denied that it engaged in these discriminatory practices and maintained that it followed the recruitment steps under the PERM programme.

It stated that the alleged failures were the result of "inadvertent error and not intentional discrimination."

The tech giant said that agreeing in the settlement was not Apple's admission to any guilt or liability.

A spokesperson from Apple reportedly told CNBC that the company had agreed to a settlement after realising it had "unintentionally not been following the DOJ standard."

"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.," the spokesperson said.

Settlement terms

On top of the millions in penalties and back pay, the settlement will require Apple to post PERM positions on its external job website.

In addition, it will see the tech giant accept electronic applications and enable PERM positions to be searchable in its applicant tracking system.

Apple will also reportedly be required to train its employees on INA's anti-discrimination requirements and will be under departmental monitoring for a three-year period.

Assistant Attorney-General Kristen Clarke from the DOJ's Civil Rights Division said the resolution reflects the division's commitment to ending illegal discriminatory employment practices.

"Creating unlawful barriers that make it harder for someone to seek a job because of their citizenship status will not be tolerated," Ms Clarke said in a statement.

Source: HRD

(Links and quotes via original reporting)