US settles claim against IT company for discrimination against American workers for H-1B holders
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The US Department of Justice has announced that it has signed a settlement arrangement with an IT staffing and recruiting organization based in Texas. For regularly discriminating domestic workers for temporary work visas, including the H-1B holders.
On Tuesday the Justice Department alleged that Ikon Systems routinely discriminated against the US workers. By posting job ads indicating a specifying a preference for applicants with ccc. And that the organization neglected to consider at least one US resident candidate who applied to a discriminatory advertisement.
Employers, regardless of their size and no matter of their industry, can’t restrict employment openings only to temporary visa holders. At the point when employers post job advertisements that victimize US workers. They abuse the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) citizenship-status discrimination provision. Said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division.
Our message is clear: if employers discriminate in advertising, recruiting, or hiring against US workers. By unlawfully preferring temporary visa holders, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will act to ensure them under the Immigration and Nationality Act, he said.
H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits American organizations to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The US issues up to 85,000 H-1B visas every year. As a rule, they’re given for three years and renewable. Most of the nearly 600,000 H-1B visa holders are from India and China.
Discrimination Against American Workers for H-1B Holders
The Department of Justice said that this is the eleventh settlement by the Civil Rights Division. Under its 2017 Protecting US Workers Initiative, which is pointed toward focusing on, exploring. And taking enforcement actions against organizations that victimize US workers for temporary visa workers.
Investigations against Ikon started after a US resident filed a discrimination complaint with the Civil Rights Division.
[New-age companies like Airbnb top H-1B salaries]
Based on its analysis, the Department concluded that from May 8, 2019, to 21st September 2019, Ikon posted at least eight facially unfair job advertisements focusing on non-US residents with immigration statuses related to employment-based visas.
For example, the investigation showed that one of Ikon’s advertisements expressed, “Searching for OPT, CPT, H4 EAD, and H-1B transfer.” Additionally, the Department discovered that Ikon failed to properly consider a US citizen’s application to one of the job postings because of his citizenship status.
