WASHINGTON D.C.
Federal prosecutors reached a settlement agreement with ASTA CRS Inc., a provider of IT staffing and consulting services with offices in Ashburn, Virginia, and Greenbelt, Maryland, officials announced Monday.
This is the ninth settlement under the Civil Rights Division’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which is aimed at investigating companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of temporary visa workers.
The settlement resolves a claim that ASTA’s Maryland office discriminated against U.S. workers because of their citizenship status when it posted a job advertisement specifying a preference for non-U.S. citizens who held temporary work visas.
“When a company advertises a job by stating a preference for temporary visa workers, it deters qualified and available U.S. workers from applying and denies those U.S. workers equal opportunity to compete for that employment,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. “Our message to workers is clear: if companies advertise a preference for temporary visa holders over U.S. workers, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable. This is especially important at a time when more U.S. workers may be seeking employment as a result of the economic impact of COVID-19.”
The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) reached numerous settlements under the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative.
Employers have distributed or agreed to pay a combined total of more than $1.2 million in back pay to affected U.S. workers and civil penalties to the United States, according to officials.
These settlements involve employers that discriminated in their use of the H-1B, H-2A, H-2B and F-1 visa programs.
Based on its investigation of ASTA, the department concluded that ASTA’s Maryland office posted a job advertisement aimed exclusively at non-U.S. citizens with certain temporary visas, including H-1B visas and F-1 student visas, officials stated.
The Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from discriminating in hiring by preferring candidates with temporary work visas over U.S. workers.
Under the INA, authorities stated that employers cannot discriminate based on citizenship, immigration status or national origin at any stage of their hiring process, including the posting of job advertisements, regardless of whether it affects the final hiring outcome.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, ASTA to do the following things:
Train its employees on the requirements of the INA’s anti-discrimination provision
Change its policies and procedures to comply with this law
Two years of department monitoring requirements, including providing regular reports to the department. immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee.