Job advertisements that included race and national origin requirements and a clause that “no information will be provided to candidates” have led to a settlement agreement between Virginia-based IT recruitment company Arthur Grand Technologies and the US government.
Under the deal, Arthur Grand will pay a $7,500 civil penalty and a total of $31,000 to 31 people who complained about the signs. As a minority-owned and federal contractor, the company is designated a disadvantaged business enterprise and will be monitored to ensure it complies with anti-discrimination laws.
“It is shameful that in the 21st century, employers continue to use 'whites only' or 'U.S. born only' job ads to exclude otherwise qualified job applicants of color,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, who announced the agreement.
Arthur Grand “does not admit or deny any violations,” the Labor Department agreement states. But in a message to NPR, Arthur Grand CEO Sheikh Rahamatullah said the company “strongly denies any charges or wrongdoings.” The job ads were placed by dishonest employees, he said.
What did the job ad say?
The job ad went viral online last year, sparking outrage and accusations of discrimination. [White] Anyone living within 60 miles of Dallas, Texas [Don’t share with candidates]The Justice Department noted that the words in brackets were not paraphrases but were included in the post itself.
According to the Department of Labor, Arthur Grand Technologies was hiring people to fill “business analyst and claims specialist positions at Salesforce.com.” The jobs would be based in Dallas.
Citing the job advertisement, the Justice Department said the business analyst position would “serve two clients: HTC Global, an information technology company headquartered in Troy, Michigan, and Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.”
What did the federal agency find?
The Justice Department said Arthur Grand violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by going public in March 2023. The Labor Department said the company also violated a long-standing executive order that bars federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, national origin or other protected characteristics.
In a separate settlement with Arthur Grand, the Labor Department said it also found other violations, including that the company did not keep records tracking job applicants' gender, race, ethnicity and other demographic characteristics, and that the company failed to prominently post notices of workers' equal employment opportunity rights.
“We are committed to holding federal contractors accountable for outrageous discriminatory practices like this one,” said Michelle Hodge, acting director of the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). “Companies like Arthur Grand that receive federal contracts cannot have a 'whites only' hiring process.”
The Department of Labor's agreement with the company includes boilerplate language that will be sent to people who have filed complaints about Arthur Grand: If you want to be part of the agreement, you will reportedly have to sign a document that reads, “I understand that AGT denies having treated me illegally or unfairly in any way.”
The letter states that by signing the documents and receiving payment, the plaintiffs also agree not to pursue legal action against the company.
What does Arthur Grand say?
Rahmatullah stressed that Arthur Grand has not admitted to any guilt or wrongdoing, and told NPR that the staffing company agreed to the deal with the Justice Department and Labor party “only to avoid the significant financial damage and long-term disruption that a lawsuit would inflict on our company.”
“Arthur Grand Technologies strongly denies any charges or wrongdoing in relation to the discriminatory job advertisements,” Rahmatullah said, adding that the advertisements were “unauthorised advertisements.”
When the company learned of the incident, Ramatoullah said, “we took immediate and decisive action to ensure this type of incident never happens again, including immediately terminating the employees responsible.”
“We sincerely apologize for any harm caused by this incident, and we are committed to meaningful reforms to maintain the trust and confidence of the local community and stakeholders,” the CEO added.
In the settlement agreement, the Justice Department acknowledged that the company denied approving the job ads, and Arthur Grand argued that “the ads that were published were created by disgruntled recruiters in India and were intended to embarrass the company,” according to the Justice Department.
What is Arthur Grand Technologies?
The company, an IT staffing firm based in Ashburn, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., occupies a two-story office building about 10 miles north of Dulles International Airport and is located near dental and orthodontic offices, insurance companies and other businesses.
“We are proud that all of our senior leadership positions are held by people of color, and that over 80 percent of our staff are people of color,” Rahmatullah told NPR.
According to U.S. government records, Arthur Grand is recognized as a small business on the federal contractor registry.
To qualify, a company must be majority owned by “one or more socially and economically disadvantaged persons.”
According to the Small Business Administration, “the federal government awards approximately 10 percent of all federal contract awards, or about $50 billion, to small businesses each year.”
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