Apple has been slapped with a penalty for failing to give US citizens and nationals a fighting chance at some jobs.
The US Department of Justice, which has been probing Apple’s hiring practices since 2019, accused the company of putting in hurdles in the recruitment process to favor current Apple employees holding temporary visas who wanted to become permanent employees. For instance, for positions it wanted to fill through a federal program called the Permanent Labor Certification Process (PERM)—which allows US companies to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency—it did not advertise the vacancies on its external job website and required mail-in applications.
The Cupertino, California-based company will pay $25 million to resolve allegations that it illegally discriminated in hiring and recruitment against US citizens, US nationals, lawful permanent residents, and those granted asylum or refugee status, the Justice Department announced yesterday (Nov. 9).
It’s the largest award that the department has recovered under the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality act (INA).
“Creating unlawful barriers that make it harder for someone to seek a job because of their citizenship status will not be tolerated,” said assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
As part of the settlement agreement, Apple denies intentional discrimination, instead chalking up any alleged failures to “inadvertent error.” The government in turn has prescribed a laundry list of remedies for Apple: Posting PERM positions on its external job website, accepting electronic applications as it does for other positions, enabling applicants to PERM positions to be searchable in its applicant tracking system, and training its employees on the INA’s anti-discrimination requirements. The company has“implemented a robust remediation plan to comply,” spokesperson Fred Sainz told the Verge.
Apple’s hiring discrimination settlement, by the digits
$6.75 million: Civil penalties Apple has to pay as part of the $25 million settlement
$18.25 million: Back pay fund for eligible discrimination victims as part of the $25 million settlement
2 million: Number of jobs that Apple has directly and indirectly created across all 50 US states, of which 80,000 were Apple employees
90%: Percentage of Apple’s US positions filled by American workers, according to Forbes
A non-exhaustive list of big tech’s employment discrimination settlements
💻 Like Apple now, Facebook (before it was rechristened Meta) paid upwards of $14 million to settle Justice Department allegations regarding employment discrimination under the PERM program in October 2021.
🌐 In December 2021, Microsoft agreed to pay a fine of $17,532 for discriminating against foreign workers by “asking them for unnecessary, specific immigration documents to prove they could work for the company without needing its sponsorship for work visas.” The monetary dent was negligible, but the software giant did have to overhaul parts of its hiring process.
🚀 In August 2023, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was sued by the Justice Department for“routine, widespread, and longstanding” employment discrimination against asylum recipients and refugees.