Cloudera settlement creates $1.4 million back-pay fund
The company also faces a two-year PERM-program debarment and $600,000 civil penalty under a federal resolution of recruitment-discrimination allegations.
A coordinated labor and civil-rights resolution
Cloudera Inc. agreed to a federal settlement resolving allegations that its recruitment for seven positions under the permanent labor certification program discriminated against qualified U.S. workers. The Justice and Labor departments announced the coordinated resolution Friday.
The company will establish a $1.4 million back-pay fund and pay $600,000 in civil penalties. The Labor Department will bar Cloudera from participating in the PERM program for two years, following an earlier suspension of the company's applications.
The settlement ends litigation without a trial. The written agreement says Cloudera denies discriminatory intent and maintains that it complied with the law. It also says the company voluntarily withdrew applications and took corrective action after learning of a problem with the email address used for recruitment.
Federal investigators focused on an application channel
According to the agreement, investigators found reasonable cause to believe Cloudera used a different process for PERM-related jobs than for other openings. Those positions were not posted on the company's public career site, and applicants were directed to a separate email address.
The agreement says that address could not receive messages from external accounts, so U.S. workers who followed the instructions were not considered. The Justice Department filed an administrative complaint in April 2026 alleging citizenship-status discrimination.
PERM allows an employer to sponsor a worker for permanent residence after testing the labor market and demonstrating that qualified, willing and available U.S. workers were given a genuine opportunity. The process does not permit an employer to design recruitment so that eligible domestic applicants cannot compete.
Claims and compliance will continue after the announcement
Potential claimants must contact the Justice Department's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section within the agreement's contact period and provide evidence that they tried to apply for a covered job. The agency will determine eligibility and calculate back pay, subject to the fund's limits and the settlement terms.
Cloudera must revise its PERM recruitment procedures, post covered positions through normal career channels, accept electronic applications in the same manner as other jobs, train relevant personnel and submit reports. The agreement runs for three years even though the PERM debarment lasts two years.
A settlement amount is not the same as a distribution to every person who contacts the government. Eligibility, qualifications, mitigation and documentation will affect each claim.
The case is important beyond one company because it addresses the integrity of a labor-market test used in employment-based immigration. The lasting measure of the resolution will be whether covered applicants can use the same functional recruitment system as other candidates and whether monitoring identifies and corrects future gaps.
The settlement requires semiannual reporting on PERM recruiting and training for relevant U.S.-based personnel. Those continuing duties make the resolution more than a one-time payment: they create records that federal officials can use to assess whether the revised process functions as promised.