San Francisco-based OpenAI is paying $3.2 million to end a federal probe into whether it made certain permanent-residency-track jobs harder for U.S. workers to find and apply for. The settlement covers fewer than 10 positions, but the alleged tactics included keeping PERM openings off OpenAI’s public careers page, requiring paper applications and advertising some jobs on late-night radio. OpenAI denies wrongdoing, and the agreement is not an admission of liability.
Federal Probe Focused On OpenAI And Statsig Recruiting
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said today that the settlement covers OpenAI OpCo LLC and Statsig Inc., the Bellevue, Washington software company that operates as an OpenAI subsidiary, according to the Justice Department. Investigators said the companies favored temporary visa holders over U.S. workers while recruiting for jobs connected to the federal PERM program.
The Tampa Free Press reported that the agreement requires OpenAI and Statsig to pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and create a $2 million back-pay fund for affected job seekers. The government said the positions at issue were lucrative technology jobs, even though the number of postings was relatively small.
What The Companies Allegedly Did
PERM allows employers to seek permanent-resident sponsorship after conducting good-faith recruitment and determining that qualified U.S. workers are unavailable. The Justice Department said OpenAI used a separate, less accessible process for some PERM positions, including paper applications rather than the electronic system used for other jobs, and that Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon warned that employers cannot prefer temporary visa holders over U.S. workers.
The signed settlement agreement says the investigation found reasonable cause to believe OpenAI engaged in the alleged practices from at least June 2023 through April 2025, while the Statsig recruitment at issue occurred in July 2025. OpenAI continues to deny the allegations, and the agreement says it should not be treated as an admission of a statutory violation or liability.
OpenAI Must Put PERM Jobs On The Main Career Track
Under the agreement, OpenAI and Statsig must post PERM-related positions on their public career websites, give each job a searchable identifier and accept electronic applications in the same manner as non-PERM openings. They must also make those applicants searchable in their recruiting systems, review qualifications in good faith and reject U.S. workers only for lawful, job-related reasons.
The companies must train employees, recruiters, contractors and agents involved in PERM recruitment, submit policy updates for federal review and provide semiannual reports during the three-year agreement. The Justice Department will also monitor compliance, turning what had been a narrow recruiting dispute into a continuing oversight obligation for the companies.
Bay Area Tech Hiring Is Under A Federal Microscope
The OpenAI settlement arrives as federal officials scrutinize similar recruitment systems at Bay Area technology companies. Earlier this year, Hoodline reported on allegations that Santa Clara-based Cloudera used a malfunctioning email route and a separate PERM process that kept U.S. applicants from competing for technology roles; Cloudera denied wrongdoing, and that case remains unresolved.
The Justice Department said the OpenAI deal is the thirteenth settlement since it relaunched its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative in 2025. In February, the department also announced a settlement with a Virginia IT company over job advertisements generated by an AI tool that allegedly excluded U.S. workers in favor of employment visa holders, suggesting that federal scrutiny is reaching both traditional recruiting practices and the technology used to create them.
Back-Pay Review Comes Next
The settlement agreement requires the companies to turn over records involving people who applied for the relevant PERM positions, after which the Justice Department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section will contact potential claimants and determine eligibility. Payments will come from the $2 million fund, with the final amounts based on the government’s review of applicants and their qualifications.
