Apple to pay $25 million settlement over illegal hiring practice

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.

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.

24 Comments

Xed 2876 comments · 4 Years

About 1 year ago

What do you mean by "immigrant" v citizen and green card holder. I know many now citizens who are immigrants into the US, and many more that are still "Green Card" holders.

elijahg 2823 comments · 18 Years

Ah yes, positive discrimination.

laytech 342 comments · 15 Years

I fully understand why. Immigrant or sponsored workers, value their job more and are more likely to work harder, be more reliable and less likely to take advantage of their employer. Human nature.

chasm 3595 comments · 10 Years

Xed said:

What do you mean by "immigrant" v citizen and green card holder. I know many now citizens who are immigrants into the US, and many more that are still "Green Card" holders.

In this particular case, it means Apple recruited skilled people who were living in other countries to come to the US to fill certain positions, or people who were recently arrived in the US and still on a temporary visa, who may or may not be skilled workers.

It is possible that Apple was doing this in order to pay some workers less, but people with talents specific to Apple’s needs would have been paid in line with what citizens/green card candidates would have been paid.

Apple’s explanation for why this happened may or may not be the full truth, but the company is and has been very keen to diversify its workforce, based on the philosophy that different life experiences bring new ideas to the table, and prevent “groupthink” setting in — like what happens if you only have similar candidates for all the positions in a given area.

godofbiscuits 249 comments · 10 Years

Xed said:

What do you mean by "immigrant" v citizen and green card holder. I know many now citizens who are immigrants into the US, and many more that are still "Green Card" holders.

The article literally distinguishes between the group who are "citizens and green card holders" and everyone else.