UT Southwestern Med Center to pay $900K over claims that Black applicants were denied jobs

Federal labor regulators said Monday that the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has agreed to pay $900,000 to resolve complaints that the school systemically discriminated against 6,100 Black applicants over a two-year period.

According to a written statement by the U.S. Department of Labor, a routine review of the research hospital’s hiring practices by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance found that African-American applicants who applied from Aug. 24, 2016, to Aug. 24, 2018, were unfairly discriminated against, violating federal hiring rules.

The university, which is a federal contractor, has agreed to extend job offers to 132 applicants along with paying back wages and interest to those covered by the terms of the settlement agreement, the written news release said. The school must also provide training to all managers, supervisors and other company officials involved in the hiring process, officials said.

“Federal contractors must ensure they are not engaging in discriminatory employment practices,” said Ronald W. Sullivan II, a regional director for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. “Employers must ensure equal employment opportunities and nondiscrimination in hiring for all applicants.”

UT Southwestern Medical Center has roughly 23,000 employees and provides medical education, scientific training and clinical care to a variety of constituencies, according to federal regulators.

Authorities said they have an online tool to identify people who may be impacted by the federal compliance probe.

In a written statement, the university said: “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. 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.”