The U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of Justice have reached a settlement with a Virginia-based IT staffing firm after finding a job posting discriminatory. Pictured is the Department of Labor building in Washington, D.C.
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A job posting that included race and citizenship requirements and a “Do not share with candidates” stipulation resulted in settlement agreements between Virginia-based IT staffing firm Arthur Grand Technologies Inc. and the U.S. government.
Under the settlement, Arthur Grand will pay a civil penalty of $7,500, along with a total of $31,000 to 31 people who complained about the post. The company, which is minority-owned and a federal contractor designated as a disadvantaged business, will also be monitored to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws.
“It is shameful that in the 21st century we continue to see employers use ‘whites only’ and ‘born-in-the-United States only’ job advertisements to exclude otherwise eligible candidates of color,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, which announced the agreements.
Arthur Grand “neither admits nor denies any violations,” the Department of Labor said. The agreement establishesBut in a message to NPR, Arthur Grand CEO Sheik Rahmathullah said his company “vehemently denies any wrongdoing or wrongdoing.” The job advertisement was made by a rogue employee, he said.
What did the job posting say?
The job posting sparked outrage and accusations of discrimination when… circulated online last yearwhich read: “Only natural-born U.S. citizens (white) living within 60 miles of Dallas, TX (do not share with candidates).” The words in brackets are not paraphrases; they appeared in brackets in the post, the Justice Department noted.
Arthur Grand Technologies was seeking a “Salesforce business analyst and insurance claims analyst” position, the Department of Labor said. The position would be based in Dallas.
The business analyst position “would serve two clients, HTC Global, an information technology company based in Troy, Michigan, and Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational holding company based in Omaha, Nebraska,” the Justice Department said, citing the job listing.
What did federal agencies find?
The Justice Department said Arthur Grand’s March 2023 inclusion on the list violated the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Labor Department said the company also violated a longstanding executive order that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, national origin and other protected characteristics.
In its separate agreement with Arthur GrandThe Labor Department says it also found other violations, saying the company did not keep records tracking demographic characteristics of job applicants, such as their gender, race or ethnicity; and that the company did not post a notice to the workers. equal employment opportunity rights in visible places.
“We are committed to holding federal contractors accountable for egregious discriminatory practices like this advertisement,” said Acting Director Michele Hodge of the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). “Companies like Arthur Grand that accept federal contracts cannot have a ‘whites only’ contracting process.”
The Department of Labor’s settlement with the company includes a form letter that will be sent to people who complained about Arthur Grand. It tells them that if they want to participate in the settlement, they must sign a document that says in part: “I understand that AGT denies that it treated me illegally or unfairly in any way.”
By signing the document and receiving payment, the letter states, the complainants also agree not to file a lawsuit against the company.
What does Arthur Grand say?
Rahmathullah stressed that Arthur Grand did not admit any fault or wrongdoing, telling NPR that the staffing firm agreed to the settlements with the Justice Department and the Department of Labor “solely to avoid the significant financial cost and prolonged disruption that litigation would impose on our company.”
“Arthur Grand Technologies vehemently denies any wrongdoing or wrongdoing in relation to the discriminatory job advertisement,” Rahmathullah said. The job advertisement was an “unauthorised posting”, he added.
When the company learned of what happened, Rahmathullah said, “we took immediate and decisive action to ensure that this type of incident never happens again, including immediately terminating the employee responsible.”
The CEO added: “We sincerely apologize for any harm caused by this incident and are committed to making meaningful changes to maintain the trust of our community and our stakeholders.”
The Department of Justice acknowledged in Your settlement agreement that the company had denied approving the job posting, and Arthur Grand claimed “that the posted advertisement was generated by a disgruntled recruiter in India and was intended to embarrass the company,” according to the Justice Department.
What is Arthur Grand Technologies?
It is an IT staffing firm based in Ashburn, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. The company’s registered address is a two-story office complex about 10 miles north of Dulles International Airport. Its neighbors include dental and orthodontic offices, and an insurance company.
“We’re proud of the fact that all of the senior leadership positions in our company are held by people of color, and more than 80 percent of our staff are also people of color,” Rahmathullah told NPR.
According U.S. Government RecordsArthur Grand is certified as a Disadvantaged Small Business on the federal contractor list.
To qualify for that status, the majority of the company must be owned by “one or more disadvantaged persons,” who must also be “socially and economically disadvantaged.”
“Each year, the Federal Government awards about 10% of all federal contract dollars, or approximately $50 billion in contracts, to disadvantaged small businesses,” according to the Small Business Administration.
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