by Patricia Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs
Pilgrim’s Pride Settles Hiring Discrimination Case for $1 Million
On October 3, 2007, OFCCP announced that Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., headquartered in Pittsburg, Texas, had entered into two consent decrees to settle allegations the company engaged in hiring discrimination based on gender and ethnicity over a two-year period against some 5,300 applicants. The company is the largest chicken company in the U.S. The settlements originate from separate compliance evaluations conducted by OFCCP at the company’s facilities in Dallas and Nacogdoches, Texas. Investigators found the company engaged in hiring discrimination against females based on gender and males based on ethnicity. Under the terms of the consent decrees, Pilgrim’s Pride will pay more than 4,500 applicants rejected by the Dallas facility $775,000 in back pay and interest and will hire 361 unskilled laborers from the rejected applicant group. More than 800 applicants rejected by the Nacogdoches facility will receive $225,000 in back pay and interest, and the company will hire more than 101 unskilled laborers from the class members
Alltel Settles Sex Discrimination Complaint for $275K
On October 3, 2007, OFCCP announced that Alltel Communications Inc., headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, will pay $275,000 to settle a sex discrimination complaint brought by the agency. Alltel owns and operates the nation’s largest wireless network. OFCCP alleged that Alltel discriminated against females in hiring over a one year period. The settlement affects some 539 female applicants for jobs as financial-service and technical support representatives. In addition to the financial settlement, Alltel will hire 22 of the female applicants. The settlement also calls for Alltel to immediately correct any discriminatory practices and undertake extensive self-monitoring measurements for two years to ensure that all hiring practices comply with the law.