OpenAI and subsidiary Statsig have agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle U.S. government claims of discrimination against American workers. According to the U.S. Justice Department, the settlement includes $1.2 million in penalties and $2 million in compensation for alleged victims of discrimination. OpenAI has stated it disagrees with the Justice Department's conclusions, with a company spokesperson telling Spectrum News that "OpenAI's mission is to ensure that (artificial general intelligence) benefits all of humanity." The company emphasized that "Fulfilling that mission and maintaining America's leadership in AI requires attracting and retaining the best talent from the United States and around the world."
The Justice Department alleged that both companies violated the federal Immigration and Nationality Act during the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) process, which requires employers to demonstrate they cannot find qualified American workers before sponsoring foreign workers for green cards. As reported by the Justice Department, OpenAI and Statsig took various discriminatory measures including not posting PERM roles on their external careers site, advertising other jobs normally, requiring paper applications by mail for those positions while accepting electronic applications elsewhere, and advertising some positions on late-night radio. These practices violated the PERM programme's requirement to bar discrimination on the basis of citizenship. The DOJ investigation found that OpenAI took steps to dissuade American workers from applying for certain positions, specifically advertising on radio stations late at night and not advertising positions through the PERM process on external job websites.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon stated that "preferring visa holders over US workers for jobs is illegal" and that the settlement ensures OpenAI "redresses harm and changes its recruitment practices so that U.S. workers receive a fair opportunity for highly sought-after technology positions." According to the Justice Department, while there were fewer than 10 positions at issue, the sizeable settlement reflected the harm OpenAI's conduct caused to U.S. workers. The settlement includes OpenAI's agreement to post PERM roles on its public careers site, accept electronic applications, conduct retraining, revise employment policies, and be subject to monitoring by the Justice Department. This marks the largest settlement of 13 total settlements negotiated by the DOJ as part of its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which was re-launched in 2025 to target companies that favor temporary foreign visa holders over American workers.
The Justice Department has announced at least a dozen other settlements since last year in cases involving alleged discrimination against U.S. workers, mostly by tech companies. As reported by Reuters, President Donald Trump has said that many companies abuse the temporary employment visa system and has sought to limit foreign worker hiring. This includes imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, which are heavily utilized in the tech sector, though the fee has been blocked pending legal challenges. The settlement adds to a busy legal stretch for OpenAI, which is separately fighting a trade-secrets suit from Apple. According to the 2025 Silicon Valley Index from the Joint Venture Silicon Valley think tank, 65% of technology workers in the San Francisco Bay Area tech hub are foreign born, while nearly two-thirds of the top AI companies in the U.S. were either founded or co-founded by immigrants. The DOJ has reached settlements with 11 companies so far this year as part of the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, with most being technology companies fined in the tens of thousands of dollars.
