Legal battle brewing as Meta accused of favoring lesser-paid foreign talent

A federal judge on Tuesday said Meta Platforms must face a lawsuit claiming that the Facebook and Instagram parent prefers to hire foreign workers because it can pay them less than American workers.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco said three U.S. citizens who accused Meta of refusing to hire them though they were qualified may pursue a proposed class action.

The plaintiffs - information technology worker Purushothaman Rajaram and software engineer Ekta Bhatia, both naturalized U.S. citizens, and data scientist Qun Wang - said they each applied for several Meta jobs between 2020 and 2024, but were turned down because of Meta's "systematic preference" for visa holders.

Meta, in a statement, said the allegations were baseless and it would continue to vigorously defend itself against them.

In seeking a dismissal, the Menlo Park, California-based company said there was no proof it intended to discriminate, or would have hired the plaintiffs if they were not U.S. citizens.

But the judge cited statistics that 15% of Meta's U.S. workforce holds H-1B visas, which typically go to foreign professionals, compared with 0.5% of the overall workforce.

She also cited Meta's October 2021 agreement to pay up to $14.25 million, including a civil fine, to settle federal government claims it routinely refused to consider American workers for jobs it reserved for temporary visa holders.

"These allegations support the plaintiffs' overall complaint that they were not hired because Meta favors H-1B visa holders," Beeler wrote.

The government had sued Meta in December 2020, seven weeks before President Donald Trump ended his first White House term.