OpenAI agreed to pay $3.2M to settle Justice Department claims that it and its Statsig subsidiary favored temporary visa holders over Americans when recruiting under the Permanent Labor Certification process, which lets employers sponsor visa holders for green cards only after a good-faith search finds no qualified Americans. It alleged the companies kept those jobs off the public careers site, made applicants mail paper forms while taking electronic ones elsewhere, and ran some required ads on late-night radio. Fewer than 10 positions were at issue. OpenAI pays $1.2M in penalties and $2M into a back-pay fund, and must post PERM jobs publicly, take electronic applications, and accept DOJ monitoring. OpenAI said it disagrees with the findings and settled to keep its PERM program running.
