Katherine Webster  |  December 4, 2020

Category: Discrimination

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DOJ alleges Facebook discrimination.

A U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleges Facebook discrimination, saying the company reserves jobs for temporary visa holders rather than hiring U.S. workers.

While the Justice Department’s lawsuit acknowledges Facebook’s typical hiring process is “rigorous and competitive,” it claims that when it comes to temporary visa holders applying for permanent positions, the social media giant creates a permanent position specifically for that applicant and doesn’t realistically leave the position open to other candidates.

The hiring practices alleged in the lawsuit happened from 2018 to at least September 2019, according to a CBS News report. 

When it wants to fill a job at the company, Facebook posts the position on its website, reviews hundreds of applications, then identifies and interviews qualified applicants, the lawsuit says. In this situation, Facebook discrimination doesn’t occur because the decision whether to hire a certain candidate is not “based on their citizenship or immigration status.”

When temporary visa holders working at Facebook ask for a permanent position, the company uses the permanent labor certification process (PERM) to create that position.

“Facebook then implements a recruitment process intentionally designed to deter U.S. workers from applying,” the lawsuit alleges. The positions are not advertised on the company’s website, and online applications are not accepted; interested candidates must mail their applications to Facebook.

“Not surprisingly,” the Justice Department says, “Facebook often gets zero applications for these advertised positions.”

Even if U.S. jobseekers apply, the company allegedly doesn’t consider them, instead filling the positions with temporary visa holders.

The average annual salary for such positions is about $156,000, CBS News reported. Facebook employs more than 52,000 people. 

According to the Justice Department, Facebook prepared recruitment reports related to PERM applications that were filed between July 1, 2018 and April 28, 2019. Included with the reports was a cover letter in which the company certified that it made an offer to a PERM beneficiary and “had conducted good faith recruitment” but didn’t find a U.S. worker who was “able, willing, qualified and available” to serve in the position.

DOJ alleges Facebook discrimination.The Justice Department’s lawsuit claims that between the beginning of 2018 and September 2019, when a U.S. worker did apply to a PERM-related position with Facebook and the company determined them to be a qualified candidate, the “standard operating procedure” was to find that candidate a non-PERM vacancy.

In the event a U.S. worker was found to be qualified for the PERM-related position they applied for but no appropriate non-PERM vacancy could be found, the company would simply decline to hire that person for the PERM-related position, according to the Justice Department.

“Between at least January 1, 2018 and September 18, 2019, Facebook hiring managers did not hire anyone for the 2,606 PERM-related vacancies except for the PERM beneficiaries,” the lawsuit says.

These actions amount to Facebook discrimination “against U.S. workers because of their citizenship or immigration status,” the Justice Department argues.

“Facebook’s discriminatory recruitment and hiring practice is routine, ongoing, and widespread,” the lawsuit says. “It discriminates against U.S. workers because of their immigration or citizenship status, and it harms them by limiting their ability to apply, to be considered, and to be hired for all PERM-related jobs at Facebook.”

The Department of Justice is asking a judge to end to the Facebook discrimination by ordering the company to cease the alleged illegal practices. 

The department also asks the Court to order Facebook to pay a civil penalty for each individual who was allegedly discriminated against and to pay back pay — with interest — “to each protected individual discriminated against who is found to have suffered uncompensated lost wages due to denied or delayed employment as a result of the discriminatory practices” alleged in the lawsuit.

Have you ever applied for a job at Facebook? What do you think of the Justice Department’s Facebook discrimination lawsuit? Let us know in the comments below.

The U.S. Department of Justice is represented by Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband; Alexander V. Maugeri, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division; deputy special counsel Alberto J. Ruisanchez; special litigation counsel Sebastian Aloot; and Julia Heming Segal, Jasmin Lott, and Erik Lang, trial attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.

The Facebook Discrimination Lawsuit is U.S. v. Facebook Inc., Case No. unknown, in the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer. 

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One thought on DOJ Calls Out Facebook Discrimination Against Domestic Workers in Lawsuit

  1. Anna Jany says:

    Yes I have. I am also a local born and raised in the area.
    All these companies preferable treatment for outsiders and immigrants not only hurt us opportunity wise but have harmed our local towns with high unheard of amount rents and changing the demographic only for their liking with not regard to us who welcomed them. I am tired of seeing everyone I knew forced to move far away. I am tired of others and myself facing homelessness with a college degree and in our 30s.
    Facebooks discrimation and enablement of overpopulating our hometowns has done pervasive damage.

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