Software contractor accused of favoring foreigners on work visas over Americans agrees to cough up $42,000
- Reference: 1607517012
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/12/09/ikon_visa_fine/
- Source link:
The legal action was brought by the US government's Dept of Justice, which – under its 2017 Protecting US Workers Initiative – has been steadily cracking down on companies that abuse visa programs to hire cheap labor and snub skilled citizens who expect a higher, fairer wage. In Uncle Sam's sights are bosses who prefer a steady stream of staff on work visas because these employees tend to accept lower salaries and do whatever they're told, no matter how unreasonable, because if they lose their jobs, they'll get booted out of America.
Ikon Systems posted at least eight job adverts that explicitly stated it wanted to recruit foreigners on employment visas – such as H-1B holders – rather than US citizens, unlawfully discriminating against Americans, [1]according [PDF] to the publicly shared settlement agreement.
A software developer, whose name is redacted from the legal paperwork, believed they were rejected for a position at Ikon for being a citizen, and filed a discrimination complaint with the Dept of Justice's Civil Rights Division against the company. The department did some probing, believed it had uncovered wrongdoing, and sued the biz on the programmer's behalf.
“Employers, no matter their size and no matter their industry, cannot limit employment opportunities only to temporary visa holders,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division [2]said in a statement on Tuesday.
Uncle Sam sues Facebook for allegedly discriminating against US workers in favor of foreigners on H-1B visas [3]READ MORE
“When employers post job advertisements that discriminate against US workers, they violate the Immigration and Nationality Act’s citizenship-status discrimination provision. Our message is clear: if employers discriminate in advertising, recruiting, or hiring against U.S. workers by illegally preferring temporary visa holders, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will act to protect them under the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
Under the terms of the settlement, Ikon Systems will pay a $27,000 fine into the coffers of the United States Treasury. It also has to consider the aforementioned software developer for all positions they apply for in the next six months, if they meet the minimum requirements, and pay them $15,000 in damages.
The IT contractor also has been banned from asking questions about a candidate’s citizenship status, and will have to retrain its staff involved in recruitment to avoid falling foul of the law.
It’s not just small companies that try to get out of paying their employees full salaries. Prosecutors filed a [4]lawsuit against Facebook last week, accusing the antisocial media giant of preferring to hire workers with work visas, including H-1Bs, for more than 2,600 positions.
A spokesperson for Ikon Systems was not available for comment. ®
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[1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1343571/download
[2] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-settles-claim-against-texas-it-company-using-job-advertisements
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/04/facebook_employment_lawsuit/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/04/facebook_employment_lawsuit/
[5] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: However in the UK
uh, with a LOT of that you pretty much described the typical contracting gig...
I actually prefer contracting to 'wage slaving', because the extra pay generally means that I don't _HAVE_ to take my payment in the form of vacation, etc. [vacations are what the 'between gig' times are]
The purpose of a fine should be to provide a painful reminder that it is more expensive to break the rules than it is to follow them. I'm far from convinced that a 42k +15k fine is enough to acheive this; it's plausible that companies save much more than this a year by breaking the rules so it's probably going to be cheaper for them to agree not to do it again and keep doing it (with training for the people doing it largely consisting of "don't admit guilt in the job applications").
Ikon Systems
Ikon, from what I can find, makes over $2m in revenue. This judgment would amount to a few percent of that. It seems low (and I'm not surprised. Most government fines in the US seem to be slaps on the wrist rather than public flogging (metaphorical or literal, I'd find either acceptable).
I hope they had to pay costs as well, otherwise it's just another business expense.
... just another business expense.
$US27,000 is indeed just another business expense. It should have been $US270,000 and the same amount again in damages to show the industry Uncle Sam ain't foolin' around.
Let us know when they go after the big players in the industry. That's where the real damage has been done.
"It also has to consider the aforementioned software developer for all positions they apply for in the next six months, if they meet the minimum requirements, and pay them $15,000 in damages."
And what is the betting that he and other US based developers won't be able to meet those requirements for whatever tenuous bottom-of-barrel scraping reasons.
Why would he ever want to work there after this is beyond comprehension. I'm sure he'd have a most welcoming and nurturing work environment...
However in the UK
Hiring overseas workers on sub-standard salaries isn't so easy here in the UK, as there's a minimum salary provision in the legislation. However quite soon it'll be possible to make any contract they like fall under IR35. That way they can skip paying for holidays, sickness and pensions and sack on a whim.