Staff Reports
The Justice Department just hit OpenAI with a $3.2 million settlement after finding the company steered certain tech jobs away from American workers. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon announced the deal, saying OpenAI and its subsidiary, Statsig, broke the law by preferring temporary visa holders during the PERM hiring process. The department says the company used odd recruitment tricks that shut out U.S. applicants.
What the DOJ says OpenAI did wrong
The DOJ found fewer than ten PERM roles at issue, but says the tactics were clear. OpenAI did not post those PERM jobs on its public careers page like it did with other openings. It made people mail in paper applications for those positions while letting others apply online. It even used obscure ads, like late-night radio, that hardly anyone would see. Those moves, the DOJ says, discouraged qualified Americans from applying.
The settlement and new rules for hiring
OpenAI will pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and set up a $2 million back-pay fund for victims — $3.2 million in all. The company must also change how it recruits. It has to post PERM positions publicly, accept electronic applications, train staff on anti-discrimination rules, and report to the DOJ so this doesn’t happen again. In short: no more hiding jobs from U.S. workers.
Why this matters for American workers and tech
This is part of a larger DOJ push to protect U.S. workers during PERM recruitment. The Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative is back in force under the present administration, and the message is plain: companies can’t game the system to favor temporary visa holders. Tech firms that think they’re above the rules now have a financial and legal incentive to stop playing those games. If you run a company, you now have to recruit in good faith or pay for it.
Good on the DOJ and Harmeet Dhillon for enforcing a simple rule: American jobs should be open to Americans first. The tech elites can keep their buzzwords and glossy PR, but when their hiring practices shut out U.S. workers, taxpayers will notice — and so will the courts. Let this settlement be a warning: clever HR tricks and midnight radio ads aren’t a substitute for fair hiring.
