The Justice Dept. announced yesterday that it settled an agreement with Crop Production Services, Inc., an agricultural company they filed a lawsuit against in September for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act by discriminating against American workers. This is the first settlement to resolve a lawsuit based on Pres. Trump’s ‘Buy American, Hire American’ executive order.
The DOJ filed the lawsuit after finding that in 2016 the Crop Production company denied seasonal jobs in El Campo, Texas to at least three American workers and that all of the company’s 15 available season technician jobs went to H-2A foreign workers that year instead of Americans.
Under the settlement, Crop Production Inc. must pay civil penalties of $10,500.00 to the United States, undergo department-provided INA anti-discrimination training, and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements. Additionally, the company is required in a separate agreement with workers represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid to pay compensation of $18.738.75 to affected U.S. workers.
“There will be zero tolerance for companies that violate the Immigration and Nationality Act by hiring foreign visa holders over U.S. workers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “The Division’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative is committed to fighting discriminatory hiring practices that prevent qualified U.S. workers from obtaining jobs, and we commend Texas RioGrande Legal Aid for bringing this matter to our attention.”
Read more on this story at The Department of Justice.
