DOJ sues Facebook for allegedly discriminating against US workers

* Facebook faces a new lawsuit from the Department of Justice alleging it discriminated against U.S. workers by reserving positions for temporary visa holders, the agency announced Thursday.

* The DOJ alleged that Facebook did not consider "qualified and available U.S. workers" for more than 2,600 positions with an average salary of about $156,000, according to the release.

* A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement the company "has been cooperating with the DOJ in its review of this issue and while we dispute the allegations in the complaint, we cannot comment further on pending litigation."

Facebook employees relax with a game of ping-pong on campus.

Facebook faces a new lawsuit from the Department of Justice alleging it discriminated against U. S. workers by reserving positions for temporary visa holders, the agency announced Thursday.

The DOJ alleged that Facebook did not consider "qualified and available U. S. workers" for more than 2,600 positions with an average salary of about $156,000, according to the release.

"Facebook intentionally created a hiring system in which it denied qualified U. S. workers a fair opportunity to learn about and apply for jobs that Facebook instead sought to channel to temporary visa holders Facebook wanted to sponsor for green cards," the department said in its release.

A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement the company "has been cooperating with the DOJ in its review of this issue and while we dispute the allegations in the complaint, we cannot comment further on pending litigation."

The DOJ alleged Facebook used tactics that discriminated against U. S. workers beginning no later than Jan. 1 2018 and through at least Sept. 18 of last year. Those tactics included failing to advertise open positions on their careers website and refusing to consider U.S. workers for those roles, the DOJ alleged.

"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 S. Dreiband, the head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division said in a 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 U. S. workers."

The DOJ sa... (Read more)

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