The technology company now faces a two-year bar from the federal employment-based green card programme, after the Justice Department brought forward allegations that it directed its hiring practices away from workers already based in the country. Under a settlement reached with the Justice Department and the Labor Department, Cloudera Inc. accepted a two-year exclusion from the Permanent Labor Certification program along with a $2 million payment obligation.
Under the PERM pathway, businesses seeking to bring overseas workers into permanent roles are required to first open those positions to domestic applicants through a structured recruitment process. Under the terms of the settlement, a separate civil action filed in April — in which the Justice Department had alleged that the California-headquartered data management firm gave preference to foreign workers over domestic applicants across seven PERM-linked roles — was also brought to a close.
According to a federal investigation, Cloudera pointed job applicants toward an email address that was set up in a way that blocked incoming messages from outside the organisation. As part of the settlement, Cloudera faces an obligation to set aside $1.4 million in a back-pay reserve for eligible workers in the United States whose cases the Justice Department identifies as having been harmed, along with a separate $600,000 payment in civil penalties.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division stated, through an official release, that the agreement — reached alongside the Department of Labor — reflects a federal commitment to holding employers accountable when hiring practices disadvantage domestic workers. A company representative, cited by a news outlet, indicated that Cloudera had taken corrective steps after discovering that a recruitment email had been unintentionally limited to internal staff, and the spokesperson conveyed that the company does not discriminate in hiring and remains committed to recruitment practices that are fair, lawful, and open to all applicants.
Adjustments to the H-1B visa programme — which allows domestic companies to bring on overseas workers for qualifying positions — have moved forward under the current administration, spanning higher application fees, more rigorous vetting procedures, and added requirements placed on participating employers. Restrictions placed on several technology firms — Adobe and Microsoft among them — prevented those companies from filing green-card petitions on behalf of workers holding H-1B visas earlier this month, while Vice President J.D. Vance conveyed to industry representatives that continued growth and hiring were welcome, provided the workforce consisted of American workers.
In a written statement, Microsoft indicated that its workforce in the United States consists predominantly of American employees, and added that H-1B visa petitions are submitted by the company only on behalf of candidates who satisfy the established eligibility requirements for that visa category. The company also stated that its pay rates place it among the upper tier of tech-sector employers and that its H-1B filings reflect above-average wage levels, though those claims have not been independently verified. "We pay our H-1B employees the same as any other employees doing comparable work," the company stated.
Brad Smith, the company's president, disputed the administration's decision to suspend the contracts, describing the rationale behind it as without basis.
