The Justice Department announced a settlement agreement with Barrios Street Realty Inc. concerning claims that the Lockport, Louisiana-based company discriminated against Americans by hiring foreign H-2B workers. Of the settlement, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said, “Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against U.S. workers in hiring. The department is committed to identifying and combating discriminatory hiring preferences that impede the ability of U.S. workers to compete equally for employment.”
The department determined that in 2014 the company failed to consider or rejected 73 U.S. workers who applied for sheet metal roofing and laborer positions, then applied for H-2B workers to fill these positions. The department found the company had falsely claimed it had failed to identify qualified U.S. workers.
Under the settlement, Barrios Street Realty must compensate U.S. workers, pay civil penalties and be subject to monitoring for a three-year period. In addition, Barrios Street Realty agreed to a voluntary debarment prohibiting it from seeking H-2B visa workers or other guest workers in the future.
The department recommends contacting the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices employer hotline (1-800-255-8155; osccrt@usdoj.gov) if applicants or employees believe they were subjected to: different documentary requirements based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin; or discrimination based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or referral.
Read the department’s release and the settlement agreement.
