- Cloudera must pay one point four million dollars to a fund for eligible U.S. workers who tried to apply for seven jobs.
- Workers generally have until April eleventh, twenty twenty-seven to contact the department and provide evidence of their application attempts.
- Cloudera’s twenty-four-month PERM filing restriction begins after its latest required withdrawal, not on the settlement’s effective date.
The DOJ and Department of Labor reached a settlement with Cloudera Inc. that restricts new PERM filings for two years and establishes a $1.4 million fund for qualified U.S. workers who tried to apply for seven jobs. The agreement also requires a $600,000 civil penalty payment to the United States.
The case concerns access to jobs tied to the PERM green-card process. The agreement became effective on October 13, 2026, three days before the agencies announced the settlement.
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Workers who tried to apply and were not fairly considered generally must contact the department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section within 180 days of the effective date. They must provide evidence of their attempt to apply. The approximate deadline is April 11, 2027.
The agreement sets different clocks for worker outreach and Cloudera’s filing restriction. The worker period runs from the effective date; the PERM bar starts with the company’s latest required withdrawal.
The filing pause begins after Cloudera withdraws the affected applications
The company cannot submit new PERM applications for 24 months, but the settlement’s effective date does not start that period. Instead, the bar takes effect from Cloudera’s latest withdrawal of a PERM application. Its start therefore depends on when that withdrawal occurs.
Cloudera must withdraw outstanding PERM applications connected to the conduct at issue. The agreement links the withdrawal requirement to the challenged recruitment, rather than describing a company-wide withdrawal of every immigration application.
If Cloudera resumes PERM recruitment, it must follow enhanced compliance procedures for three years. Those conditions include reporting, training and maintaining records about applicants. Independent auditing is also required.
The oversight provisions apply if the company returns to PERM recruitment. They accompany the filing restriction and withdrawal terms, rather than creating a general ban on Cloudera’s hiring.
The allegations center on an email channel outside applicants could not use
The department alleged that Cloudera directed applicants for the seven positions to a separate email address that external applicants could not reach. It alleged that the company later represented that recruitment had been conducted in good faith and that no qualified U.S. workers had been found.
The allegations covered conduct from at least March 31, 2024, through at least January 28, 2025. The settlement addresses the agencies’ allegations through its required payments, application withdrawals and compliance conditions.
Cloudera told the agencies it had not acted with discriminatory intent. The company attributed the issue to email-based recruitment and said it took corrective action after discovering the problem.
The agreement restricts PERM filings, not H-1B status
The Department of Labor’s PERM labor-certification process generally applies when an employer seeks to sponsor a foreign worker for employment-based permanent residence. Employers conduct recruitment and must show that qualified U.S. workers are unavailable for the position under applicable rules.
The settlement does not revoke Cloudera workers’ H-1B status or impose a general H-1B ban on the company. Its immigration restriction is limited to participation in PERM, potentially delaying green-card cases that depend on new labor certifications. Applications already underway may also be affected if they are tied to the challenged recruitment and must be withdrawn.
The department placed the case within its Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative. It said the initiative had produced 14 settlements since its relaunch in 2025.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the Justice Department would hold employers accountable when they discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of temporary-visa workers. Workers seeking the settlement’s fund generally have until April 11, 2027, to contact the department with evidence they tried to apply.
