DOJ Extracts $3.2 Million From OpenAI Over Hiring Discrimination Allegations

The US Department of Justice has announced it reached a $3.2 million settlement with OpenAI and one of its subsidiaries to address allegations that the companies discriminated against US workers “and instead preferred workers with temporary employment visas.”

For forms of employment-based immigration, companies typically go through a process called Permanent Labor Certification where they advertise roles to US workers to guarantee that foreign workers aren’t displacing US citizens in the labor market. The DOJ says its investigation found that OpenAI did the opposite, choosing to not advertise the roles it was planning to fill on its external jobs website. The company reportedly also required applicants to mail paper applications for those roles, even though it accepted electronic applications for others, and advertised positions “on the radio late at night.”

As part of the settlement agreement, OpenAI has to agree to post jobs on its public jobs website and accept electronic applications. Company staff will also have to be trained on the anti-discrimination policies of the Immigration and Nationality Act. In terms of fees, OpenAI is paying the United States $1.2 million in civil penalties. It will also provide an additional $2 million to form a back-pay fund to support victims of its allegedly discriminatory practices.

The DOJ hasn’t shared how it will determine which victims should receive payments from the fund. Considering discrimination in this case depends on victims not seeing advertisements or other recruitment information, it could be difficult to figure out. Engadget has asked the DOJ to explain how the back-pay fund works. We’ll update this article if we hear back.

Other companies have reached similar settlements with the DOJ during the Biden administration. Following a 2020 DOJ lawsuit over its H1-B visa program, Meta agreed to a multi-million dollar settlement in 2021. The DOJ also announced a settlement with Apple in 2023 after it found the company deployed similar tactics to OpenAI as a way to under-advertise open roles.

Tech companies relying on immigrant workers is not at all unusual. At least during 2025, companies like Google, Meta and Amazon received the majority of approved H1-B visas. What has changed is the government’s immigration policies. President Donald Trump has generally tried to restrict immigration, attempting to ban immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries during his first term and actively encouraging white South African immigrants over others during his second. In September 2025, Trump also targeted H1-B visas directly by signing an executive order that appended a $100,000 fee to some visa applications. The new fee, like other Trump policies, takes a pay-to-play approach that affects some companies more than others.