The United States Department of Labor is suing Palantir Technologies, a Silicon Valley firm for allegedly discriminating against Asian job applicants. The lawsuit has already been filed which states that the firm's procedures in hiring in 2010 were biased.
The basis of race in resume screening and phone interviews were denied by the Palo Alto, California-based data mining company. Palantir has released a statement saying "the Department of Labor relies on a narrow and flawed statistical analysis relating to three job descriptions from 2010 to 2011." The firm also intends defend themselves against the said allegations.
According to the complaint, Asian applicants were "routinely eliminated" despite being "as qualified as caucasian applicants" for software engineering positions. The lawsuit paperwork states that " the majority of Planter's hire into these positions came from an employee referral system, that disproportionately excluded Asians", reported by BBC.
If the case wins against Palantir Technologies, the Department of Labor will issue an order for the cancellation of the firm's current and future government contracts. The director of the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs said, "Federal contractors have an obligation to ensure that their hiring practices and policies are free of all forms of discrimination."
Palantir handles $340 million of federal government contracts since January 2010. The firm is on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue for 2016 which comes from the contracts with F.B.I., C.I.A. and United States Army. Palantir Technologies was credited for helping intelligence agencies find Osama Bin Laden.
The government stated an instance where 1,160 qualified applicants have applied for software engineering positions. Eighty percent of the applicants were Asian and yet Palantir only hired 11 applicants and 14 non-Asian applicants. The Labor Department has filed a formal notice in October 2015 after failed attempts for settlement, according to New York Times.
