U.S Departments of Justice and Labor Secure Settlement with Cloudera, Enforce Two-Year PERM Debarment & Back Pay Following Discrimination Against U.S. Workers

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (CRT) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today announced a coordinated enforcement resolution with Cloudera Inc., a Santa Clara, California-based data management company, following allegations that the company discriminated against qualified U.S. workers during recruitment conducted under the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program.

“There are no exceptions: the Justice Department will hold accountable employers who discriminate against U.S. workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This substantial settlement, in partnership with DOL, sends a strong signal to employers that the federal government will work together to ensure employers treat U.S. workers fairly.”

As part of the resolution, Cloudera will be barred from participating in the PERM program for two years, one of the most significant sanctions available for DOL to protect the integrity of the employment-based immigration system and safeguard opportunities for U.S. workers. The debarment follows DOL’s earlier suspension of Cloudera’s PERM processing and reflects DOL’s commitment to aggressively enforcing labor certification requirements when employers fail to provide U.S. workers a fair opportunity to compete for jobs.

The settlement also resolves a lawsuit DOJ filed in April of this year, alleging that Cloudera violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against U.S. workers when recruiting and hiring for seven positions under the PERM process. Under the terms of the settlement with the Justice Department, Cloudera will establish a back-pay fund of $1.4 million to compensate qualified U.S. workers who tried to apply for the jobs at issue but were not given fair consideration. Cloudera also will pay $600,000 in civil penalties to the United States.