Justice Department Secures Agreement with Staffing Company to Resolve Claims of Employment Discrimination

The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a settlement agreement with Latitude Inc. (Latitude), a staffing company in Hanover, Maryland. The agreement resolves the department’s determination that Latitude violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against certain non-U.S. citizens with permission to work in the United States and excluding them from job opportunities based on their citizenship status.

“Companies cannot unlawfully exclude all non-U.S. citizens with permission to work in the United States from job opportunities based on their citizenship status,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those who engage in such behavior that violates our nation’s federal civil rights laws.”

The department’s investigation determined that, from at least April 2022 through July 2023, Latitude refused to refer, recruit or hire any non-U.S. citizens for several positions with a client company that had requested the restriction without any legal basis. These actions harmed lawful permanent resident workers, non-citizen national workers and workers who have been granted asylum or refugee status by unlawfully deterring them from applying to and failing to advance those who did apply for further consideration in the hiring process.

Under the terms of the settlement, Latitude will train its personnel on the INA’s requirements, revise its employment policies and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements. Latitude will pay civil penalties to the United States. 

The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute generally prohibits discrimination based on citizenship status and national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation and intimidation. 

Learn more about IER’s work and how to get assistance through this brief video. Applicants or employees who believe they were discriminated against based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or during the employment eligibility verification process (Form I-9 and E-Verify), or subjected to retaliation, may file a charge. The public can also call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a live webinar or watch an on-demand presentation; email IER@usdoj.gov or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites. Sign up for email updates from IER.