On Thursday, November 9, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published a press release that details the settlement agreement with Apple to resolve allegations related to irregularities with PERM employment hiring practices. In this article, the H1BGrader.com editorial team provides an analysis of the issue and addresses frequently asked questions that readers have in mind.
You can also review similar allegations with Meta (Facebook) in the past, which resulted in pausing PERM filings for Facebook.
Article Contents
Importance of PERM in the Green Card Process
PERM, also known as Permanent Labor Certification, is an important step in the overall Green Card Process. PERM recruitment is one of the very first steps to apply for a Green Card under the Employment-Based (EB) category.
As part of the PERM Labor Certification, DOL must ensure that hiring a foreign worker does not adversely affect the labor conditions of US workers. DOL also ensures that the wage offered to foreign workers is comparable to other US workers offered in a similar position. You can read more at: What is PERM in Green Card Process?
Apple’s Green Card-related PERM filing History
Before we dive into the issue, let’s take a look at the Apple PERM Labor Certification(LC) history. You can also explore more of this data at the Green Card Page of Apple Inc. The below graph shows the PERM LC history for the last 11 years.
We also have the same data depicted in tabular format below.
The data indicates that Apple had filed the PERM LCs without issues and did not have any impact on the PERM LCs so far because of these allegations. Only in 2022, more PERM LCs have expired than in any other year and this year also marks a lower number of PERM LCs Certified when compared to other years.
Allegations on Apple INC by DOJ, IER
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ), Civil Rights Division, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) filed an allegation against Apple in 2019 stating that it started an independent investigation to look into practices that discriminated against US Citizens during the PERM LC recruiting process. The settlement mentioned that the investigation reviewed the data no later than Jan 2018 until December 2019. There are quite a few allegations made by IER, they are
- Apple did not follow the standard recruiting process for PERM-related recruiting
- Apple did not these positions on an external website
- Apple asked candidates to mail paper applications instead of electronic submission
- Apple failed to consider certain internal applicants when they submitted electronic applications
However, Apple denied any of the claims made by IER and clarified that any errors may be inadvertent and are not intentional.
The Settlement
Apple agreed to pay a total of $25 million as part of this settlement. The breakdown of the settlement is as follows
| Amount | Description of Settlement |
| $6.75 million | Civil Penalty to US Treasury |
| $18.25 million | Amount paid to qualified individuals |
Settlement Recommendations
Apart from the monetary penalty, the settlement also outlines the below recommendations for fair and transparent hiring practices for PERM recruiting.
- Apple shall provide all recruiters with training
- Apple shall provide training to the hiring manager of the PERM-related position
- Advertise PERM-related positions on external and internal career websites
- Accept electronic applications for all PERM-related positions
- Conduct a good faith recruitment process for all eligible candidates of PERM-related positions similar to non-PERM-related positions
- Apple to provide a semi-annual report with details on the PERM-related positions
Apple’s PERM Settlement Timelines
| Date | Description |
| Settlement Agreement Published by Department of Justice | IER notified Apple of the Independent Investigation |
| January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019 | Investigation Period |
| November 2, 2023 | Settlement Effective Date (Apple Designatory signed) |
| November 2, 2017 to November 8, 2023 | Period Considered for any Settlement payment |
| November 9, 2023 | Settlement Agreement Published by Department of Justice |
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
We have compiled some FAQs to address the concerns of our readers. The below list of FAQs should answer most of your questions.
Maybe. The reason for being maybe is twofold. One Apple denied the allegations made by IER and the second is Apple agreed to settle this by paying $25 million. This will certainly create more scrutiny when the PERM LC application is reviewed by the Department of Labor (DoL). As always, a certain number of PERM LC applications are audited by DoL and that may cause additional delays in the certification process.
Both allegations mention that the employer had discriminated against the candidates based on their citizenship or immigration status during the PERM recruiting process. Facebook’s settlement was for $14.25 million and Apple’s settlement is for $25 million. Both companies denied any allegations in their settlements.
No. While we do not anticipate that this settlement will create any impact on the overall PERM LC processing times, there is a high chance that more and more applications will be reviewed thoroughly.
No. We do not expect that this settlement would impact any new PERM LCs. However, do expect some delays during the PERM recruiting process as Apple has to follow certain guidelines recommended in the settlement to create more transparency in the overall process.
More Information
- Apple – Department of Justice Settlement Press Release
- Facebook – Department of Justice Lawsuit Press Release
- H1BGrader.com Blog article on Facebook Lawsuit
- Apple Inc PERM LC Data
- Tool to Predict Your PERM Processing Times
Conclusion
Finally, if you are an employer reading this settlement, this only highlights the importance of having a fair and transparent process during the PERM recruitment phase. If you are a hiring manager, follow all the practices put in place by your employer and immigration team to conduct a fair recruiting process. If you are an employee or prospective employee of Apple, then there is nothing you can do in this process. Please keep calm and let the Apple Immigration team handle this situation.
As always, we encourage our readers to read the “More Information” section for detailed information on this settlement. Provide any additional thoughts or questions below in the comments section.