(JustPatriots.com)- According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement, a New York-based outsourcing corporation, in collaboration with an Indian entity, discriminated against eligible Americans for computer employment in the United States, preferring to recruit cheaper foreign visa employees.
According to the settlement agreement, Amtex Systems Inc. discriminated against eligible American workers at various phases of the recruiting and employment process. The settlement claims that the intention was to fill American employment with foreign employees on Optional Practical Training (OPT) visas.
Employers frequently prefer foreign OPT visa employees over Americans because they are less expensive to hire. Because businesses can avoid paying FICA taxes, these workers receive a 15% discount, resulting in a net savings of $20 billion to $30 billion.
DOJ investigators began investigating Amtex after an American citizen filed a discrimination complaint against the company for favoring foreign OPT visa workers.
DOJ prosecutors noted in a news release that the department found that Amtex engaged an Indian firm to identify and screen job candidates based on customers’ preferences for individuals with specific citizenship or immigration statuses based on its investigation.
According to the inquiry, the recruiters supplied job advertising with their customers’ illegal citizenship or immigration status choices, and they also used those preferences when selecting applications.
The recruiters’ actions damaged American employees by discouraging them from applying and failing to consider those who did. For example, when three U.S. workers responded to a job ad that specified a preference for individuals with temporary employment visas, the examination found that Amtex did not evaluate them.
Amtex must pay the federal government $15,000 in civil penalties and change its recruiting policies as part of the settlement. The Department of Justice will also be monitoring Amtex over the next three years.
Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act last year which aimed to abolish the OPT program and reduce foreign job competition for America’s working and middle-class STEM graduates.
Despite corporate assertions that there is a labor shortage in the STEM sectors, around four million young Americans enter the workforce each year. Many Americans have spoken out about being dismissed, replaced, and forced to train their foreign counterparts.
