Business & Tech
Palo Alto Data Analysis Company To Settle Discrimination Charges For $1.6 Million
A Palo Alto-based company is paying over $1.6 million to settle a Dept. of Labor charge that it discriminated against Asian applicants.
SOUTH BAY, CA -- A Palo Alto-based data analysis company has agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle a U.S. Department of Labor charge that it discriminated against Asian applicants for software engineering jobs.
The settlement was reached last Thursday and announced by the department on April 25.
Palantir Technologies, which provides software and data analysis services for government agencies and private industry, received $340 million worth of government contracts between 2010 and 2016 from agencies that included the FBI, U.S. Army and U.S. Special Forces Command, according to the Department of Labor.
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The labor department, which is charged with enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws and regulations affecting contractors, accused Palantir of bias against Asian applicants in an administrative lawsuit in September.
The now-settled lawsuit was filed with the department's Office of Administrative Law Judges in Washington, D.C.
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It alleged that Palantir systematically discriminated against Asian applicants for engineering positions. It claimed that 85 percent of 1,170 qualified applicants for software engineer jobs were Asian, but only 11 out of 25 hired were Asian.
The lawsuit also alleged that 77 percent of 730 qualified applicants for quality assurance engineer jobs were Asian, but only one of the seven hired was Asian.
The Asian job seekers included Asian-Americans, Asians living in the U.S. and Asians living overseas, according to the Department of Labor.
Under the settlement, Palantir will pay $1,659,434 in back wages, stock options and other compensation to affected applicants and will offer jobs to eight Asian applicants.
Palantir does not admit to any liability in the agreement.
The company said in a statement that it disagrees with the allegations but is glad to have settled the case.
Thomas Dowd, acting director of the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, said in a statement, "We appreciate Palantir working with us to resolve these issues."
Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock
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