AI-Generated Job Ads Discriminated Against U.S. Workers, Says U.S. Civil Rights Unit
The Department of Justice reported it has secured a settlement agreement with a Virginia information technology (IT) services firm that is says discriminated against U.S. workers by advertising jobs with unauthorized citizenship status restrictions.
DOJ’s Civil Rights Division alleged that Elegant Enterprise violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when it posted job advertisements generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that included citizenship status restrictions not authorized by law, including language restricting consideration only to applicants with H-1B, OPT, or H-4 visas.
The Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), in the Civil Rights Division, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, which protects U.S. citizens and certain other work-authorized individuals from employment discrimination based upon citizenship or immigration status.
The INA also protects all work authorized individuals from national origin discrimination, unfair documentary practices relating to the employment eligibility verification process, and from retaliation.
“It is unconscionable for companies to illegally exclude U.S. workers when recruiting and hiring,” commented Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate discriminating against U.S. workers, no matter who — or what — drafts a job advertisement, or whether it is an employee, a recruiter, or an AI tool.”
Elegant Enterprise-Wide Solutions Inc. has agreed to pay a civil penalty lo $9,460 penalty.
DOJ said this settlement is the eighth settlement it has reached with companies that it said illegally discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of those with employment visas.