California tech company fined thousands for refusal to hire US workers, DoJ says

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Tuesday announced a settlement agreement with California technology company Epik Solutions for alleged discriminatory hiring practices that favored foreign workers over American ones.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division charged the San Francisco Bay Area-based company, also known as “Epikso,” with unlawfully discriminating against American workers in favor of foreign visa workers back in February.

Epikso’s recruiters were said to regularly hire foreign H-1B temporary visa holders over US workers in violation of the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) in the US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

"Companies engaging in such discrimination are on notice that the days of the federal government looking the other way on American workforce protection are over," said Asst. Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon.

"Protecting US workers from unlawful discrimination is the division's top priority," he said.

According to its website, Epikso provides AI-powered business management software platforms to multiple industry sectors, such as banking, energy, biotechnology, education, and even the federal government.

The company boasts partnerships with big names such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Salesforce, and Oracle, among others.

According to the company’s LinkedIn profile, out of roughly 170 employees in nine locations, more than half are reported to live in India.

As part of the settlement, Epikso will pay $71,916 in civil penalties to the US Treasury and, within 60 days, undergo training, revise its employment policies, and refrain from placing job advertisements that unlawfully exclude US workers from employment opportunities, the DoJ said.

Epik Solutions said that although it has cooperated with the IER investigation, it does not acknowledge any wrongdoing or admit to any legal conclusions put forth by the Special Counsel, according to the signed agreement.

The settlement is the first of its kind since the DoJ re-launched its ‘Protecting US Workers Initiative’, which targets, investigates, and brings enforcement actions against US companies that discriminate against American workers.

Originally launched in 2017, the initiative prohibits hiring, firing, and recruiting based on citizenship, immigration status, and national origin, protecting not just US citizens, but also naturalized US citizens, US nationals, lawful permanent residents, refugees, and other asylum-grantees, the DoJ website states.

Foreign H-1B visa holders are considered temporary workers hired for expertise in specialized designated fields, such as technology, engineering, science, healthcare, and law, and typically hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.