Bangalore:  A certain mishap in IBM’s online ad for job postings proved to be very costly for the conglomerate, as the firm had to shell out $44,400 as penalties, reports Reuters.  

As per the U.S. Department of Justice, recent ads on online job postings by the company was against the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as it was in favor of foreign workers with provisional work visas over U.S. citizens.

IBM had placed ads for application and software developers that were clearly in favor of candidates with F-1 and H-1B temporary visas, which is a clear violation of the law.

F-1 visas are given to foreign nationals opting to study in the U.S., while H-1B visas are issued to overseas nationals with technical proficiency in a specialized field.

As per the provision, companies cannot differentiate individuals on the basis of their citizenship status "unless required to comply with law, regulation, executive order or government contract", reports Reuters.

As part of the settlement with the law establishments in the country, IBM has also agreed to alter its hiring and recruiting procedures, and has asserted that it will train its human resources employees to ensure that no further embarrassments will be inflicted on the company. 

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