Arthur Grand Technologies, an IT company in Virginia, was fined $7,500 for a job posting specifying that only white people were eligible for a position. The company must also pay $35,000 in compensation to applicants as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
The company had not intended to reveal its whites-only policy: the posting included instructions to recruiters to ignore nonwhite applicants, but it was not removed before publication: "U.S. Born Citizens [white] who are local within 60 miles from Dallas, TX [Don't share with candidates]"
The ad was widely circulated on social media and generated multiple news stories.
"It is shameful that in the 21st century, we continue to see employers using 'whites only' and 'only US born' job postings to lock out otherwise eligible job candidates of color," Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general with the department's civil rights division, said in a statement. "I share the public's outrage at Arthur Grand's appalling and discriminatory ban on job candidates based on citizenship status, national origin, color and race."
The company claimed it was a fake posted by a disgruntled worker. That excuse didn't cross the finish line, not that the fine is of much significance.
Context: the company, assumed by various commentateurs to be good ol' boys, is in fact that of former Tata analyst Sheik Rahmathullah. "Arthur Grand" doesn't exist. The name is for the customers. Remember Tarantino's theory of "Clark Kent" as an alien's contemptuous critique of humanity? The world is full of magic.
