Only Indians need to apply’: NJ-based IT firm fined for discriminatory job ads

Justice Department orders Infosoft Solutions Inc. to pay $25,500 in fines and train its recruiters, revise employment policies

An information technology firm based in New Jersey is facing significant repercussions for its policy of accepting job applications exclusively from individuals of Indian descent.

The US Justice Department has determined that Infosoft Solutions Inc., an IT recruiting and contracting company, violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Read: California State Senate passes caste discrimination bill (May 12, 2023)

“When employers advertise jobs only to applicants from a certain country or who need temporary visas, they discourage all other eligible workers and deny them a fair chance to be considered,” said Kristen Clarke, an Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Clarke said the Civil Rights Division “will not tolerate national origin or citizenship status discrimination, and is committed to knocking down these unlawful discriminatory barriers.”

It is a well-known fact that a majority of Indians immigrate to the US through work-based visas and hold a substantial portion of IT jobs in the country.

Infosoft Solutions came under scrutiny for engaging in discriminatory advertising practices by exclusively inviting job applicants from India.

Between July 2021 and August 2021, the company posted at least six job advertisements inviting applications. The advertisements invited applicants who wanted sponsorship to work in the United States or who already had employment-based temporary visas. One of the six advertisements also required the candidates to be from India.

The Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision generally prohibits employers from recruiting or refusing to hire workers based on their citizenship status or national origin.

Read: New Jersey Company Fined For Posting Discriminatory Job Advertisements Seeking Indians (May 23, 2023)

The Justice Department ruled that, with such an advertisement, the company deterred workers with permission to work in the United States without sponsorship (such as asylum seekers, lawful permanent residents and US nationals) from applying for the job advertisements and being fairly considered for the employment opportunities.

Infosoft will now have to pay $ 25,500 in civil penalties to the United States. But that’s not all. The firm has also been told to train its recruiters on the INA’s requirements and revise its employment policies and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements.