When Employers Choose H-1B Workers Over Domestic Workers

              Prediction: Expect More Actions Against US Employers

The United States Department of Justice issued a press release earlier this month detailing actions it took (and the settlement it received) from iGate Mastech. It stated:

"The settlement stems from the Department’s finding that, between May 9, 2006, and June 4, 2006, iGate placed 30 job announcements for computer programmers that expressly favored H-1B visa holders to the exclusion of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and other legal U.S. workers. Such preference constituted citizenship status discrimination and is prohibited by the Immigration and Nationality Act."

The amount of the settlement was only $45,000 which one magazine thought was too cheap a price considering the economic loss 30 US job holders would have suffered. I have a different take, though. When US Federal prosecutors go after firms, they often offer the first firms to settle the best deal and progressively stiffen their position and raise their settlement stakes thereafter. I suspect that this case will be just the beginning of many more, and more public, cases like this.