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Meta must face lawsuit claiming it prefers foreign workers
Reuters-28 Jun 2024, 06:04 AMThe decision reverses a federal judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit by a software engineer.
Meta said Purushothaman Rajaram failed to show that the company intended to discriminate against US workers. (AP pic)SAN FRANCISCO: A US appeals court on Thursday revived a software engineer’s proposed class action claiming Meta Platforms refused to hire him because it preferred to give jobs to foreign workers who are paid lower wages.
The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling said that a Civil War-era law barring discrimination in contracts based on “alienage” extends to bias against US citizens.
The decision reverses a California federal judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit by Purushothaman Rajaram, a naturalised US citizen who says Meta passes over American workers for jobs in favour of cheaper visa recipients. Rajaram is seeking to represent a class that includes thousands of workers.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company in court filings has denied wrongdoing and said Rajaram failed to show that Meta intended to discriminate against US workers.
Daniel Low, a lawyer for Rajaram, said that bias against US citizens is a significant problem in the tech industry.
“We expect that this ruling will lead to more lawsuits seeking to end such discrimination,” Low said in an email.