Trump Dept. of Justice Nails OpenAI for Hiding

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has reached a $3.2 million settlement with OpenAI over allegations the company intentionally discriminated against American employees.

Investigators discovered that OpenAI most well-liked non permanent visa holders when filling sure high-paying technology positions. 

The case centered on the company’s recruitment practices during the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) course of, which is required when employers sponsor international employees for inexperienced playing cards.

According to a DOJ press release, OpenAI failed to post some of these job openings on its public profession web site, even though that was its normal follow for other positions. The company also required candidates to submit paper functions by mail while permitting digital functions for most other jobs.

In addition, OpenAI marketed some of the openings on the radio late at evening, a step the division said was designed to discourage U.S. employees from making use of. Under the settlement, OpenAI can pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and create a $2 million fund to compensate affected American employees.

“It is illegal to discriminate against U.S. workers by preferring temporary visa holders for jobs,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Okay. 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. employees. Employers must recruit U.S. employees in good religion when sponsoring non permanent visa employees for everlasting residency via the PERM course of. @CivilRights will maintain 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 goal “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 division has secured in the past yr. 

OpenAI — one of the most highly effective firms in Big Tech — is by far the highest-profile company pressured to reply 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 cases in which the chatbot refused or skewed solutions on politically delicate topics in methods that favored progressive viewpoints.

Dhillon, in a separate response on X, told critics who need steeper penalties or broader motion against Big Tech that they need to strain Congress for legislative modifications, since the DOJ can only implement current immigration law.

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