Thread: Company Posting 'H-1B Only' Job Ads Fined $45K

This is a multi-million dollar company....$45k is a slap on the wrist with a feather. That is like the average citizen of this country paying less than half a penny for a fine. $15.5 million would have been more appropriate. That would be like the average citizen paying a $1600 fine. Now that would get my attention.


Company Posting 'H-1B Only' Job Ads Fined $45K
eWeek : May 2 , 2008

http://www.numbersusa.com/news?ID=10058

"Such preference constituted citizenship status discrimination and is prohibited by the Immigration and Nationality Act."
In the first half of 2006, the Programmers Guild, an IT worker interest group, filed 300 discrimination complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice against employers who had posted "H-1B visa holders only" ads on job boards.


Two years later, it appears that in at least one case, the group's work has paid off. The Department of Justice announced May 1 that it has fined iGate Mastech, a Pittsburgh computer consulting company, $45,000 in civil penalties to settle allegations that it had discriminated against U.S. workers in its hiring practices, actively seeking to hire H-1B visa holders only.


Three different iGate ads shared with eWEEK by the Programmer's Guild for Java developer openings--one 5/30/06 and two dated 6/13/06--stated that the company is "only looking for H-1B visas and should be willing to transfer." According to the DOJ, there were 30 more posted between May 9 and June 4, 2006, 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 Programmers Guild says that this fine is "probably the most visible result of [our] campaign against companies that discriminate, and so far we've only paid attention to the flagrant violators."


The Guild says that it is only scratching the surface of brazen companies such as iGate right now, and its list doesn't even include those that only hire H-1B workers but word their ads more carefully, as well as companies that use preferred vendor lists to ensure their contract hires only come from companies providing H-1B workers.

Moving from Polls to News.

May 05, 2008
Consulting Firm Accused of Discriminating Against U.S. Citizens

iGate Mastech, Inc., a Pittsburgh computer consulting company, has agreed to pay $45,000 in fines to settle Department of Justice allegations that the company discriminated against United States citizens in its employment practices.

The department alleged 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 Just Department said.

The settlement also requires iGate to train its recruitment personnel and to post a nondiscrimination statement on its Web site.

Anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) protect U.S. citizens and certain work-authorized individuals from employment discrimination based upon citizenship or immigration status. The INA also protects all work-authorized individuals from national origin discrimination, unfair documentary practices relating to the employment eligibility verification process, and from retaliation.

http://hr.blr.com/news.aspx?id=78319

Fines for businesses like that is ineffective. They need to just Yank the Business Licences!! NO TOLERENCE!!!!