A number of large employers were charged with discriminating against non-U.S. citizens through posting job openings on a Georgia Institute of Technology recruiting platform.
The Department of Justice Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) has prioritized discrimination through the use of technology, said a DOJ spokesperson.
The Department of Justice began an investigation when a Georgia Tech student filed a discrimination complaint with IER alleging a company has restricted a paid internship opportunity to U.S. citizens on the school’s job bank. The department determined that the advertisements of four employers deterred qualified students from applying for jobs because of their citizenship status, and in many cases the citizenship status restrictions also blocked students from applying or even meeting with company recruiters.
There was never any intention of discrimination, according to the complaints, or of violating the Immigration and Nationality Act, which restricts employers from discriminating based on citizenship or immigration status, except when required by government contract, executive order, regulation, or law. Nicole Kersey, managing director of Kersey Immigration Compliance LLC, said in a recent Bloomberg article that unintentional discrimination can be as simple as an unchecked box or default settings in platforms used by employers for recruitment.
This isn’t the first time this year employers have found themselves in hot water with DOJ for unintentional discrimination violations. In June, DOJ announced settlements with 16 other companies for similar discrimination violations.
Outlook: The complaints underline the importance of integrating HR, Legal, and IT functions in a company when considering the use of technology in HR contexts, even and perhaps especially when a third party is involved.
