16 companies slapped with civil penalties for discriminatory job postings

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Totaling $832,944, 16 private employers have been ordered to pay civil penalties as part of a settlement agreement, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. The penalties are to resolve claims that each company discriminated against non-U.S. citizens in hiring.

According to the complaint, each company posted as least one job advertisement excluding non-U.S. citizens on an online job recruitment platform operated by the Georgia Institute of Technology, with one employer posting as many as 74 discriminatory advertisements. Several other employers posted advertisements on other college or university platforms, according to the DOJ.

The DOJ became involved after a lawful permanent resident filed a discrimination complaint, alleging that a company advertised a U.S.-citizens only position to Georgia Tech’s job recruitment platform. The complaint was filed with the Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section. An investigation revealed a rash of other facially discriminatory postings across not only Georgia Tech’s platform but other platforms operated by colleges and universities across the country. Investigations were opened into the 16 private employers settling in this suit. Additional employers are still being investigated.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) generally prohibits employers and recruiters from limiting jobs based on citizenship or immigration status unless required by a law, regulation, executive order or government contract.

Under the terms of their individual settlement agreements with the department, the 16 employers are to pay civil penalties in varying amounts, depending, in part, on the number of discriminatory advertisements they posted. In addition, the settlement states the employers must require their recruiting staff to undergo training on their obligations under the INA’s anti-discrimination provision and to refrain from including specific citizenship or immigration status designations in their campus job postings unless the restrictions are required by law.

Below are the companies involved in this settlement case and their individual penalty amounts.

KPMG LLP – $306,656

Keyot LLC – $256,928

Area-I, Inc. – $103,600

CapTech – $33,152

Akuna Capital – $29,008

American Express Company – $29,008

Sealed Air Corporation – $24,864

Clarkston-Potomac Group – $12,432

Toast, Inc. – $8,288

Blackbaud – $4,144

Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc. – $4,144

CONMED – $4,144

Edward Jones Investments – $4,144

KNAPP Inc. – $4,144

SimpleNexus, LLC, f/k/a L Brewer and Associates, LLC, d/b/a LBA Ware – $4,144

The Royster Group, Inc. – $4,144