The lawsuit claims Meta favors H-1B visa holders over American workers to cut costs.
A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit alleging that Facebook parent Meta favors hiring foreign workers over U.S. citizens can move forward.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on Feb. 25 denied Meta’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which accuses the big tech giant of systematically preferring H-1B visa holders because it could pay them less than American workers.
The lawsuit, filed by three U.S. citizens, alleges that Meta’s hiring practices violate 42 U.S.C. § 1981(a) by discriminating against American citizens.
It accuses Meta of abusing the H-1B visa program, which is intended to bring foreign workers into the United States to perform services in specialty occupations where there are insufficient U.S. workers. The three plaintiffs allege they were passed over for jobs because Meta preferred to hire foreign H-1B visa holders to perform the work to maximize profit.
“When hiring for U.S. positions, Facebook considers United States citizens, lawful permanent residents (e.g., green card holders), and foreign citizens with proper work permits (e.g., H-1B or L-1 visa holders),” the plaintiffs’ complaint states. “But while visa holders make up just a fraction of the United States labor market, Facebook prefers to hire visa-dependent workers for certain U.S. positions, as it can pay these employees less than American workers performing the same work.”
The plaintiffs cited a separate lawsuit against Meta by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that accused the company of discriminating against U.S. workers by reserving certain positions for temporary visa holders, including those on H-1B visas. To resolve those allegations, Meta agreed to a settlement involving payment of a $4.75 million civil penalty to the U.S. government and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims of the alleged discrimination.
As part of that settlement, Meta also committed to revising its recruitment and hiring practices to ensure greater transparency and accessibility for U.S. workers.
The current lawsuit claims Meta continues to favor visa holders, citing workforce statistics showing that 15 percent of Meta’s U.S. workforce holds H-1B visas, compared to 0.5 percent of the overall U.S. workforce.
By Tom Ozimek
