Virginia tech firm faces penalties for ‘Whites only’ job posting

May 27 (UPI) — A Virginia information tech firm will be forced to revise its employment policies and pay a civil penalty after it restricted eligible candidates to “only U.S.-born” and “White” citizens.

The U.S. Justice Department and Department of Labor announced the agreements last week with Arthur Grand Technologies Inc., after the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by posting a discriminatory job advertisement in March 2023.

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“Only U.S.-born citizens [White] who are local within 60 miles from Dallas, Texas, [Don’t share with candidates],” the job post read.

“It is shameful that in the 21st century, we continue to see employers using ‘Whites only’ and ‘only U.S.-born’ job postings to lock out otherwise eligible job candidates of color,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“I share the public’s outrage at Arthur Grand’s appalling and discriminatory ban on job candidates based on citizenship, status, national origin, color and race,” Clarke added.

An investigation was opened into the tech company in May 2023 after a recruiter based in India posted the advertisement on the job website Indeed. The advertisement went viral on social media and prompted several news articles.

An investigation by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, or OFCCP, found that Arthur Grand Technologies advertised the opening last year, for a business analyst position with its sales and insurance claims team in Dallas, on the public online hiring website along with the discriminatory disclaimer.

Under the Justice Department settlement, Arthur Grand will pay a civil penalty of $7,500 to the United States. Under the Labor Department agreement, Arthur Grand will compensate those individuals who filed complaints with the OFCCP. Both agreements require the tech firm to retrain employees involved in recruiting.

“Over the past 58 years, OFCCP has protected workers and job-seekers from workplace discrimination. We are committed to holding federal contractors accountable for outrageous discriminatory practices like this advertisement,” said acting director Michele Hodge of the Department of Labor’s OFCCP.

“Companies like Arthur Grand that accept federal contracts cannot have a ‘Whites only’ hiring process.”