The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Cloudera Inc., accusing the firm of discriminating against American workers in favor of foreign visa holders for high-paying tech roles.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon shared the development on X, saying, “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, and Civil Rights will not hesitate to sue employers for discriminating against U.S. workers. You are on notice.”
According to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, the lawsuit alleges that Cloudera violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by intentionally creating hiring practices that discouraged U.S. applicants. The complaint has been filed with the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, which handles cases under the law.
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“Employers cannot use the PERM sponsorship process as a backdoor for discriminating against U.S. workers,” Dhillon said. “The Division will not hesitate to sue companies who intentionally deter U.S. workers from applying to American jobs.”
The DOJ claims Cloudera set up a separate recruitment pipeline for certain tech roles, effectively shutting out American candidates. In one instance, the company allegedly asked applicants to send resumes to an email address that could not receive external messages. A U.S. worker who tried to apply reportedly received a bounce-back notification. The department also alleges that Cloudera failed to properly recruit U.S. workers while sponsoring foreign employees through the PERM labor certification process.
The PERM program allows companies to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency, but only after making a genuine effort to recruit qualified U.S. workers. Federal officials say that requirement was not met in this case.
The lawsuit is part of the DOJ’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, relaunched in 2025, which targets companies accused of favoring temporary visa holders over American workers.
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This action follows another recent enforcement case involving Compunnel Inc., which agreed to pay $313,420 to settle similar allegations. The DOJ said the company posted job ads that effectively excluded U.S. citizens and permanent residents by favoring H-1B visa holders.
The controversy was first brought to light by commentator Sara Gonzales, who highlighted a LinkedIn job post allegedly targeting only H-1B candidates.
Reacting to that case, Dhillon said, “It’s illegal to discourage U.S. workers from applying for American jobs. Employers cannot exclude U.S. workers from the labor force by discriminating against them based on their citizenship status. Employers must design recruitment, training, and compliance practices to ensure adherence to federal civil rights laws.”
These cases signal a broader push by the Justice Department to crack down on hiring practices that sideline American workers, especially in the competitive tech sector.