The ad was targeted to “born U.S. citizens only.” [White]' and was installed in March 2023.
Officials said companies that ran discriminatory job ads seeking only white candidates were fined by the federal government and reached separate agreements with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor as punishment.
Arthur Grand Technologies, a Virginia-based information technology services company, posted a discriminatory job ad in March 2023 that restricted application eligibility to “U.S.-born citizens only.” [white] Anyone living within 60 miles of Dallas, Texas [Don’t share with candidates]”,” he said, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice on Thursday.
“An investigation by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) determined that Arthur Grand Technologies had posted a job opening on a public online job website in April 2023 for a business analyst in its sales and claims team in Dallas,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “The advertisement included a bold disclaimer stating, 'U.S.-born citizens only.' [White] Anyone living within 60 miles of Dallas, Texas [Don’t share with candidates]According to the announcement, the position will cover two clients: HTC Global, an information technology company headquartered in Troy, Michigan, and Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.”
The Justice Department also cited a separate lawsuit alleging a separate incident of discriminatory conduct by Arthur Grand Technologies.
“In May 2023, the Civil Rights Division's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) opened an investigation alleging that Arthur Grand discriminated on the basis of citizenship status and national origin after a recruiter working for Arthur Grand's Indian subsidiary posted an ad on the job site Indeed,” the Justice Department said. “The ad was widely circulated on social media and generated several news stories. Arthur Grand's conduct harmed individuals authorized to work in the United States, including U.S. citizens born outside the United States and certain non-U.S. citizens, by unlawfully preventing them from applying to its job ads.”
As part of the Justice Department's settlement with Arthur Grand Technologies, the tech company was ordered to pay a civil penalty to the United States and the agreement also requires Arthur Grand to educate employees about the requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and revise its employment policies, and will be subject to Justice Department oversight going forward, officials said.
Under the settlement agreement with the Department of Labor, Arthur Grand will also pay compensation to individuals who filed complaints with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and the company “commits to providing workplace-specific training to all employees involved in recruiting, selecting candidates or tracking expressions of interest for open positions,” the Justice Department said.
“The Department of Labor's settlement resolves its determination that Arthur Grand violated Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin,” the Justice Department said.
“It is shameful to see, in the 21st century, employers use 'whites only' or 'born in the U.S.' job ads to exclude otherwise qualified job applicants of color. I share the public's outrage over Arthur Grand's egregious discriminatory conduct in excluding job applicants based on citizenship, national origin, color, and race,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice works with other government agencies to continue to hold employers accountable when they violate our federal civil rights laws.”
Michelle Hodge, Acting Director of the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, said, “For the past 58 years, OFCCP has protected workers and job seekers from discrimination in the workplace, and we are committed to holding federal contractors accountable for outrageous discriminatory practices like this advertisement. Companies that accept federal contracts, like Arthur Grand, cannot have a 'whites only' hiring process.”
