Meta sued for allegedly favouring foreign workers over US citizens; case could impact H-1B visa hiring

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is facing a lawsuit in the United States for allegedly favouring foreign workers over American citizens in its hiring practices. A U.S. federal judge has ruled that the lawsuit, which claims Meta prefers H-1B visa holders because they can be paid less, must proceed.

The lawsuit was filed by three U.S. citizens—Purushothaman Rajaram, an IT worker; Ekta Bhatia, a software engineer; and Qun Wang, a data scientist. They allege that they applied for multiple positions at Meta between 2020 and 2024 but were not hired despite being qualified. They argue that Meta systematically prefers foreign visa holders over American citizens.

Meta has denied these allegations, stating there is no evidence of intentional discrimination against American workers. However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler highlighted statistics showing that 15% of Meta's U.S. workforce are H-1B visa holders, compared to 0.5% of the overall U.S. workforce.

The judge also referred to a previous case in October 2021, where Meta agreed to a settlement of up to $14.25 million over similar accusations of favouring temporary visa holders over American workers.

The lawsuit was initially dismissed in November 2022 when only Rajaram was involved, but a federal appeals court revived it in June 2023. The court ruled that the claims were valid under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits discrimination based on nationality or citizenship status.

The case, Rajaram et al. v. Meta Platforms Inc., will now proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. If successful, it could affect how Meta and other tech companies hire, particularly regarding H-1B visa workers.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Daniel Low, expressed hope that the lawsuit would reduce the tech industry's preference for visa workers, although he acknowledged that new laws or stronger enforcement might be necessary to fully address the issue. Meta and its legal team have yet to respond to the latest court ruling.