Facebook’s Latest Controversy: Favoring Immigrant Applicants

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Facebook for allegedly refusing to consider American candidates when filling open jobs in the company. The lawsuit also argued that the social media conglomerate failed to advertise job postings to U.S. job seekers and prioritized immigrant applicants when hiring.

“The lawsuit alleges that Facebook refused to recruit, consider, or hire qualified and available U.S. workers for over 2,600 positions that Facebook, instead, reserved for temporary visa holders it sponsored for permanent work authorization (or “green cards”) in connection with the permanent labor certification process (PERM). The positions that were the subject of Facebook’s alleged discrimination against U.S. workers offered an average salary of approximately $156,000,” a statement from the Justice Department read.

“The complaint also alleges that Facebook sought to channel jobs to temporary visa holders at the expense of U.S. workers by failing to advertise those vacancies on its careers website, requiring applicants to apply by physical mail only, and refusing to consider any U.S. workers who applied for those positions,” the statement added.

Facebook denies the allegations but is complying with the Justice Department in their investigation. The case specifically focuses on H-1B visas, which The BBC Reports tech companies often use to bring international candidates to the U.S. and provide them work authorization.

"Our message to workers is clear: If companies deny employment opportunities by illegally preferring temporary visa holders, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable," Eric Dreiband, the assistant attorney general for the department's civil rights division, said in the DOJ statement.

"Our message to all employers - including those in the technology sector - is clear: You cannot illegally prefer to recruit, consider, or hire temporary visa holders over US workers."

This isn’t the first time Facebook has been in hot water this year. Employees at Facebook accused the company of giving conservative accounts preferential treatment when spreading misinformation back in November. At the time, employees alleged that Facebook failed to penalize conservative accounts when spreading falsified information.