The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement agreement with Triple H Services, a landscaping company based in Newland, N.C., that conducts business in Virginia and four other states.
The DOJ said Triple H discriminated against qualified and available U.S. workers based on their citizenship status by preferring to hire temporary workers with H-2B visas, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Under the settlement, Triple H must establish a back pay fund, with a cap of $85,000, to compensate people who were harmed by its practices. Triple H also must to pay $15,600 in civil penalties, engage in enhanced recruitment activities to attract U.S. workers and be subject to departmental monitoring for a three-year period.
“Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against U.S. workers in hiring because of their citizenship status,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. “The department will continue to fight to ensure that U.S. workers are not disadvantaged because of their citizenship status. I commend Triple H for its cooperation with the Department and its willingness to undertake efforts to recruit U.S. workers that go well beyond the minimum requirements for participation in the H-2B visa worker program.”
Although Triple H went through the motions of advertising more than 450 landscape laborer vacancies in five states, it did so in a manner that misled U.S. workers about the available positions and prevented or deterred some from applying, the DOJ found. Triple H did not consider several qualified U.S. workers who applied for positions in Virginia during the recruitment period and instead hired H-2B visa workers, the government said. In several states where jobs were available, Triple H prematurely closed the online job application process for U.S. worker applicants, filled positions with H-2B visa workers without first advertising the jobs to U.S. workers in the relevant locations or advertised vacancies in a manner that did not make the postings visible to job seekers using state workforce agency online services, officials said.
The settlement is part of the Civil Rights Division’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which is aimed at targeting, investigating and taking enforcement actions against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of temporary visa workers.
Image: U.S. Department of Justice via Wikimedia Commons
