H1-B Vs. U.S. Citizen: IT Firm Sued

On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Micron Technology Inc, a memory chipmaker, has agreed to a settlement to resolve a case related to employment discrimination.

According to the settlement, Micron was found to have violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by favoring a temporary visa worker over a U.S. citizen for a position, failing to consider the citizen’s qualifications.

The case was initiated after a U.S. citizen complained of unfair treatment. Micron has denied the allegations but agreed to pay a civil penalty, provide back pay to the affected worker, and conduct anti-discrimination training for its staff.

For years, there have been reports about the mistreatment of white-collar American professionals under the H-1B visa program, which currently has around 650,000 foreign workers in the U.S. at any given time. American workers are often laid off and then required to train their foreign replacements.

Major technology companies in Silicon Valley are laying off tens of thousands of American employees while hiring over 34,000 foreign H-1B visa workers for American science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs.

As far as this case is concerned, the Justice Department did not disclose the amount of the civil penalty in its statement, but it is reported that Micron will offer back pay worth $85,000 to the affected worker.