A California-based tech firm, Cloudera, has reached a settlement of $2 million with the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor on allegations that the company discriminated against qualified US workers when it filed for Green Cards for its foreign workers.

Additionally, the company will be banned from the Green Card process for two years. Cloudera's Green Card ban was announced earlier -- before the Donald Trump administration banned the Green Card process of eight major tech companies, including Microsoft and Adobe. Cloudera's case is different as there was a lawsuit filed against Cloudera in April this year.

There are no exceptions: Harmeet K Dhillon

“There are no exceptions: the Justice Department will hold accountable employers who discriminate against US workers,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K.

Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This substantial settlement, in partnership with DOL, sends a strong signal to employers that the federal government will work together to ensure employers treat US workers fairly.”In April, DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging that Cloudera alleging that the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by discriminating against US workers "when recruiting and hiring for seven positions under the PERM process".

The Justice Department said that under the terms of the settlement,, Cloudera will establish a back-pay fund of $1.4 million to compensate qualified US workers who tried to apply for the jobs at issue but were not given fair consideration. Cloudera will also pay $600,000 in civil penalties to the United States."Cloudera will be subject to compliance obligations designed to ensure future adherence to federal labor and anti-discrimination laws.

These measures include enhanced monitoring, revised PERM compliance procedures, and reporting requirements intended to prevent future violations," the department said.The PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) process is the mandatory first step for US employers sponsoring a foreign national for an employment-based green card (typically EB-2 or EB-3). It is designed to prove to the US Department of Labor (DOL) that there are no qualified, willing, and available US workers for the job, and that hiring the foreign worker will not lower local wages. But Cloudera asked applicants to send their applications an email address that did not accept outside emails.