DALLAS — A research hospital in North Texas will pay $900,000 in back wages and interest to resolve alleged systemic racial hiring discrimination affecting 6,123 Black applicants at the center’s Dallas facility, according to federal officials.
The U.S. Department of Labor and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center entered into the agreement after the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) found the research hospital’s hiring practices allegedly discriminated against Black applicants from Aug. 24, 2016, through Aug. 24, 2018.
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, federal officials said in a news release. The facility will also provide training to all managers, supervisors and other company officials in the hiring process.
UT Southwestern acknowledged the settlement when reached by email, saying the review impacted "a small percentage of open positions" in the two-year timespan.
"This settlement prevents additional expense and business interruption resulting from the OFCCP's review of alleged statistical differences in hiring rates during the period that began eight years ago," hospital officials said in a statement to WFAA. "UT Southwestern fully cooperated with OFCCP's audit requests and provided extensive data about thousands of applications and hires during the review period. Regrettably, given the volume of applicants, the time that has passed, and some data that could not be retrieved due to old systems that have since been updated, UT Southwestern was unable to comply with OFCCP's record-keeping expectations; however, there has been no finding of violation. UT Southwestern prides itself on being a diverse, supportive, and welcoming community where employees and students come to learn, work, and train. An equal opportunity employer, UT Southwestern remains committed to fair and objective recruitment and hiring processes."
UT Southwestern Medical Center is nationally ranked in 11 adult specialties, according to U.S. News & World Report. It is the No. 1 ranked hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth and the No. 2 ranked hospital in the state of Texas.
UT Southwestern Medical Center employs about 23,000 people and provides medical education, scientific training and clinical care, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. It currently has contracts to provide services to the Department of Veterans Affairs and has held more than $90 million in federal contracts since 2013. Available positions can be found on the hospital's website here.
OFCCP has launched a "class member locator" to identify applicants and/or workers who have been impacted and who may be entitled to a portion of monetary relief and/or consideration for job placement.
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