OpenAI settles DOJ hiring claim

OpenAI agreed on August 4 to pay $3.2 million to settle U.S. Justice Department allegations that it disadvantaged American workers while recruiting for jobs tied to green-card sponsorship. The settlement covers OpenAI OpCo LLC and its subsidiary Statsig Inc., which the department said preferred workers with temporary employment visas during parts of the Permanent Labor Certification, or PERM, process. The Justice Department said the companies denied U.S. workers a fair chance to apply for a small number of highly paid technology roles. OpenAI denied the allegations in the settlement agreement and said the deal does not amount to an admission of wrongdoing. ### Which companies were named in the settlement? The Justice Department named OpenAI OpCo LLC, based in San Francisco, and Statsig Inc., based in Bellevue, Washington, in the August 4 settlement announcement. The department said the two companies together would pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and create a $2 million back-pay fund for people harmed by the alleged practices. (justice.gov) The settlement agreement says the department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section opened an independent investigation of OpenAI on August 13, 2025, and later opened charge-based investigations involving both OpenAI and Statsig. The agreement says the settlement term runs for three years from the effective date. ### What did the Justice Department say OpenAI did wrong? The Justice Department said OpenAI did not advertise PERM-related positions on its external job website even though posting jobs there was its standard practice for other openings. (justice.gov) It also said the company required applicants for those PERM jobs to mail paper applications, while allowing electronic applications for other roles. (justice.gov) The department also said OpenAI took other steps that discouraged U.S. workers from applying, including late-night radio advertisements. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in the DOJ release that “it is illegal to discriminate against U.S. workers by preferring temporary visa holders for jobs.” ### How many jobs were involved? The Justice Department said fewer than 10 PERM positions were at issue. (justice.gov) The settlement agreement says investigators found reasonable cause to believe OpenAI engaged in a pattern or practice of citizenship-status discrimination in five PERM-related advertisements beginning no later than June 2023 and continuing until at least April 2025, and that Statsig violated the same law in one PERM-related recruitment in July 2025. The PERM process allows employers to sponsor foreign workers for permanent resident status if they carry out good-faith recruitment and cannot find qualified U.S. workers, the Justice Department said. The department said employers cannot use that process to discriminate against U.S. workers based on citizenship status. ### Why did mailed applications matter so much? (justice.gov) The settlement agreement says investigators concluded U.S. workers were not allowed to apply for PERM-related jobs in the same way applicants used for other positions, such as electronically through the companies’ public careers site. The agreement says the added burden of mailing paper applications was not required by the PERM process and did not occur in non-PERM recruiting. (justice.gov) Axios reported that the case fits into a broader Justice Department push against employers accused of using visa-related hiring channels in ways that bypass U.S. applicants. The DOJ’s own settlements page shows other recent cases under the same initiative. ### What does OpenAI have to change now? Under the settlement, OpenAI and Statsig must post future PERM positions on their public careers website and accept electronic applications from U.S. workers. (justice.gov) The agreement also requires the companies to revise employment policies, train personnel on anti-discrimination rules under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and submit to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements. (axios.com) The three-year compliance period means the next steps are procedural rather than judicial. The Justice Department said OpenAI must fund the penalties and back-pay pool and carry out the recruiting changes, while the department monitors compliance under the agreement. (justice.gov)