Apple Pays Up: Tech Giant Doles Out Record $18.25 Million to U.S. Workers Shut Out of Jobs by Visa Program

WASHINGTON — More than four years after federal investigators began digging into Apple’s hiring practices, the company has finished distributing a record $18.25 million in back pay to American workers who were passed over for jobs in favor of temporary visa holders, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Thursday.

The payout — the largest of its kind under the department’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative — settles allegations that Apple’s recruitment methods illegally deterred qualified U.S. citizens and green card holders from applying to certain positions.

“The Civil Rights Division will keep fighting for U.S. workers and will hold companies accountable for favoring temporary visa holders for American jobs,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “We appreciate Apple’s cooperation to ensure that this settlement was fully implemented.”

The investigation began in 2019, during the first Trump administration, as part of a broader push to protect American workers from employment discrimination based on citizenship status. Federal authorities found that Apple’s hiring and recruitment practices for positions tied to the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program — which allows companies to sponsor foreign workers for green cards — effectively discouraged U.S. workers from applying.

In 2023, Apple agreed to settle the matter without admitting liability, paying $18.25 Million in back pay to harmed U.S. workers plus $6.75 Million in civil penalties. But distributing that money took time. The Justice Department said Thursday that the claims process involved a “thorough and individualized assessment of thousands of potential claimants,” including a review of each worker’s lost income to calculate exact back-pay amounts.

Every dollar of the $18.25 million fund has now been exhausted, the department said.

Beyond the financial relief, Apple was also required to change its hiring playbook. The company must now post PERM positions on its external job website, accept electronic applications, and train employees on anti-discrimination rules under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

PayPal Pays $30 Million to Settle DOJ Claims Its DEI Investment Program Discriminated Against Non-Minority Businesses

WASHINGTON — PayPal has agreed to pay $30 million and overhaul a small-business investment program that the Justice Department says discriminated against non-minority entrepreneurs — the latest major corporate settlement in the Trump administration’s crackdown on workplace and lending diversity initiatives.

The settlement, announced Tuesday, resolves a fair lending investigation into PayPal’s “Economic Opportunity Fund,” a program launched in 2020 that gave preferential treatment to businesses based on race, color, and national origin. The Justice Department found that the program violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on protected bases — including race.

“This Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s vow to root out illegal DEI from every corner of corporate America,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “American corporations are on notice: you will face our aggressive enforcement if you use race or national origin to discriminate against qualified Americans.”

Under the settlement, PayPal did not admit liability but agreed to launch a new “Small Business Initiative” that explicitly excludes criteria based on race, national origin, or other protected characteristics. Instead, the new program will waive processing fees for $1 Billion in transactions—a value estimated at approximately $30 Million — for eligible American small businesses that are veteran-owned or engaged in farming, manufacturing, or technology.

“With this settlement, PayPal agrees that race and national origin should play no part in determining which small businesses deserve its investment and financial support,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department will use the full range of its enforcement authorities to eliminate discrimination and ensure that all Americans have an equal opportunity to grow their small businesses.”

A Program Born in 2020

PayPal announced its Economic Opportunity Fund in 2020, amid a wave of corporate pledges to support minority-owned businesses following the murder of George Floyd. The program was designed to invest in Black and minority-owned businesses, offering fee reductions, capital access, and other benefits.

But according to the Justice Department, while the program gave a clear preference based on race and national origin, PayPal never implemented it to remediate any specific instances of past discrimination — a key legal requirement for race-conscious programs under federal anti-discrimination law.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, enforced by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, strictly limits when creditors may consider race or ethnicity in lending decisions. Generally, such preferences are allowed only to remedy a documented history of discrimination by the same creditor.

What PayPal Must Do Now

Beyond the $30 million in fee waivers, PayPal has agreed to:

Designate a director to oversee the new Small Business Initiative
Conduct a needs assessment of American small businesses to determine how PayPal can best support them
Submit plans and proposals for the initiative to the United States for review
Provide employee training on the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
Report annually on the initiative’s implementation and impact

The settlement requires PayPal to ensure that its new program is open to all eligible small businesses without regard to race, color, national origin, or other protected traits.

“American corporations are on notice,” Blanche said.