{"id":6435,"date":"2026-08-05T01:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6435"},"modified":"2026-08-05T01:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:30:08","slug":"openai-pays-3-2m-to-settle-claims-it-discriminated-against-us-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6435","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI pays $3.2m to settle claims it discriminated against US workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"607306d0-e804-45e2-ae9e-abebc8cbc309\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"OpenAI logo\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/5db8e59cbd6842019ce85d0e19df962cc9c7bef1\/0_0_4000_2667\/master\/4000.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310.03875\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">OpenAI was accused by the justice department of discouraging US workers from applying for jobs.<\/span> Photograph: Dado Ruvi\u0107\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"607306d0-e804-45e2-ae9e-abebc8cbc309\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">OpenAI was accused by the justice department of discouraging US workers from applying for jobs.<\/span> Photograph: Dado Ruvi\u0107\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">OpenAI pays $3.2m to settle claims it discriminated against US workers<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Company and subsidiary Statsig alleged by US justice department to have favored foreign workers in hiring<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">OpenAI and a subsidiary will pay $3.2m to settle US government claims that they \u2060favored foreign workers with temporary employment visas and discriminated against US job applicants in recruiting and hiring, the justice department said \u2060on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The justice \u2060department in \u200ba release said that OpenAI and Statsig, which makes product development software, recruited foreign workers for some open positions and \u2060took various steps to discourage US workers from applying.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">That included requiring them to mail paper applications instead of submitting electronic ones, advertising jobs \u2060on the radio late at night, and not posting the openings on an external website, \u200bthe justice department said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">OpenAI did \u200cnot immediately respond to \u200ca request for comment. The company denied wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The justice department \u200chas announced at least a dozen other settlements since last year in cases involving alleged discrimination against US workers, mostly by tech companies but none as high-profile as OpenAI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Donald Trump has said that many companies abuse the temporary employment visa system and has sought to limit the hiring of foreign workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">That has included imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, which are heavily utilized in the tech sector. The \u200bfee has been blocked pending legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Assistant attorney general Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement that \u201cthis substantial settlement ensures that OpenAI redresses harm and changes its recruitment practices so US workers receive a fair opportunity for highly sought-after technology positions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The justice department alleged \u2060that both companies violated the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, which bars discrimination \u200bbased on citizenship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The \u200bdepartment said that while there \u200bwere fewer than 10 positions at issue, the sizeable settlement reflected the \u200bharm OpenAI\u2019s conduct caused \u200cto US \u200bworkers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The settlement includes $1.2m in penalties and $2m to compensate alleged victims of discrimination. OpenAI also agreed to revise its employment policies, conduct training, and to be subject to monitoring by the justice department, the agency said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US news<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/technology\/openai\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">OpenAI<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/trump-administration\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Trump administration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=OpenAI%20pays%20$3.2m%20to%20settle%20claims%20it%20discriminated%20against%20US%20workers&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/04\/openai-worker-discrimination-claims-settlement?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F04%2Fopenai-worker-discrimination-claims-settlement&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/04\/openai-worker-discrimination-claims-settlement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OpenAI was accused by the justice department of discouraging US workers from applying for jobs. Photograph: Dado Ruvi\u0107\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6438,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6435\/revisions\/6438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}