The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has reached a $3.2 million settlement with OpenAI over allegations the company deliberately discriminated against American workers.
Investigators found that OpenAI preferred temporary visa holders when filling certain high-paying technology positions.
The case centered on the company’s recruitment practices during the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) process, which is required when employers sponsor foreign workers for green cards.
According to a DOJ press release, OpenAI failed to post some of these job openings on its public career website, even though that was its standard practice for other positions. The company also required applicants to submit paper applications by mail while allowing electronic applications for most other jobs.
In addition, OpenAI advertised some of the openings on the radio late at night, a step the department said was designed to discourage U.S. workers from applying. Under the settlement, OpenAI will pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and create a $2 million fund to compensate affected American workers.
“It is illegal to discriminate against U.S. workers by preferring temporary visa holders for jobs,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This substantial settlement ensures that OpenAI redresses harm and changes its recruitment practices so that U.S. workers receive a fair opportunity for highly sought-after technology positions.”
We secured a $3.2 million settlement with OpenAI for discriminating against U.S. workers. Employers must recruit U.S. workers in good faith when sponsoring temporary visa workers for permanent residency via the PERM process. @CivilRights will hold violators accountable!…
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) August 4, 2026
The Trump Justice Department launched the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative in 2017. The President had it relaunched in 2025.
Its purpose "is aimed at targeting, investigating, and taking enforcement actions against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa workers."
It marks the thirteenth such settlement the department has secured in the past year.
OpenAI — one of the most powerful companies in Big Tech — is by far the highest-profile company forced to answer for shutting Americans out of high-paying jobs.
Complain to Congress not the DOJ.
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) August 4, 2026
The case also lands amid long-running conservative complaints that OpenAI’s ChatGPT system has a clear left-leaning ideological bias. Critics have repeatedly pointed to instances in which the chatbot refused or skewed answers on politically sensitive topics in ways that favored progressive viewpoints.
Dhillon, in a separate response on X, told critics who want steeper penalties or broader action against Big Tech that they should pressure Congress for legislative changes, since the DOJ can only enforce existing immigration law.
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