The US Department of Labor and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have entered into a conciliation agreement in which the federal contractor will pay $900,000 in back wages and interest to resolve alleged systemic racial hiring affecting 6,123 Black applicants at the center’s Dallas facility. A routine compliance evaluation by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found the research hospital’s hiring practices allegedly discriminated against Black applicants from Aug. 24, 2016, through Aug. 24, 2018, in violation of Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. In addition to the back wages and interest, UT’s Southwest Medical Center will make 132 job offers to the affected job applicants and ensure its hiring policies and procedures do not discriminate. The facility will also provide training to all managers, supervisors and other company officials in the hiring process.
