DOJ sues tech firm Cloudera for favouring temporary visa workers over US employees

5 days ago 2

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The lawsuit claims Cloudera set up a process that discouraged U.S. applicants, violating the Immigration and Nationality Act.

FILE PHOTO: United States Department of Justice logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo(REUTERS)

The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Cloudera, accusing the company of unfairly preventing American workers from accessing high-paying tech jobs. Officials allege that Cloudera favoured hiring individuals on temporary visas rather than giving proper consideration to qualified U.S. applicants.

The case was announced Tuesday by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and targets Cloudera Inc., a tech company headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

“We just sued Cloudera for discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa holders for high-paying tech jobs. This is a violation of the Immigration & Nationality Act, & @CivilRights will not hesitate to sue employers for discriminating against U.S. workers! You are on notice!” wrote Harmeet Dhillon in a post on X.

According to the DOJ, the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), a law that prohibits certain forms of employment discrimination. The complaint was submitted to the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, which oversees cases involving the INA.

Here's what the complaint alleges

The lawsuit alleges that Cloudera set up a separate hiring and recruitment process for certain high-paying tech roles. Officials say this system was intended to discourage U.S. workers from applying.

It was also alleged that Cloudera did not consider them, for lucrative technology jobs that the company earmarked for people with temporary employment visas. Cloudera created an email account that did not allow external emails, but still instructed applicants to use that unworkable email address to apply for jobs, the official release stated.

We just sued Cloudera for discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa holders for high-paying tech jobs.

The Division received a charge of employment discrimination from one U.S. worker who tried to apply using the email account Cloudera set up, but received a bounce back notification. When sponsoring current employees under the permanent labor certification program (PERM), Cloudera purposely failed to recruit U.S. workers in good faith, the release further added.

Dhillon warned employers, saying, “Employers cannot use the PERM sponsorship process as a backdoor for discriminating against US workers,” Dhillon said. “The Division will not hesitate to sue companies who intentionally deter US workers from applying to American jobs.”

Key Takeaways

The DOJ's lawsuit highlights the ongoing issue of employment discrimination against U.S. workers.
Companies must adhere to fair hiring practices and cannot favor foreign workers over qualified American applicants.
The Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative aims to hold companies accountable for unlawful hiring practices.

About the Author

Mausam Jha

Mausam Jha is a journalist who focuses on world affairs and politics. She provides clear, informative reporting with a good understanding of both global events and their local impact. Her clear, accessible reporting on political and international issues makes her a trusted source of news and analysis. For the past three years, Mausam has worked with Mint, covering national politics, IR—including elections—and global affairs. Before joining her current role, she gained experience working with The Statesman, ANI, and Financial Express, where she honed her skills in political and international news. She has consistently tracked key electoral battles, including US elections, Japan elections, policy debates, and strategic affairs, explaining how global currents, from great power competition to regional conflicts Beyond journalism, Mausam has a deep engagement with international relations, diplomacy, war studies, terrorism, political history, and political theory. She is particularly interested in the intersection of statecraft and society on how governance, ideology, and institutions shape lived realities, and how politics shape today's world order. An avid reader of classical literature and political thought, she constantly explores the connections between historical ideas and contemporary policy challenges.

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