An IT services company in Virginia, US, has been fined $38,500 (Rs 32,11,177) for a job advertisement that sought only white, American-born applicants. According to the BBC, the discriminatory advertisement was posted by Arthur Grand Technologies in March 2023 for a business analyst position on a hiring site. The ad stated, “Only Born US Citizens (White) who are local within 60 miles from Dallas.”
The ad sparked outrage on social media and soon caught national attention, prompting the Justice Department and the Department of Labor to launch an investigation. “It is shameful that in the 21st century, we continue to see employers using ‘whites only’ and ‘only US-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 in a statement.
The US Department of Justice imposed a significant penalty on the company, stating the ad violated federal civil rights and labor laws. According to the order, Arthur Grand Technologies is required to pay $7,500 in civil penalties to the US treasury and $31,000 in total compensation to people who filed complaints over the incident. In the settlement agreement, the company claimed the ad was “generated by a disgruntled recruiter in India and was intended to embarrass the company,” and that it never intended to dissuade non-citizens from applying.
