By Peter D’Abrosca | Tennessee Star
A Chattanooga trucking company will be forced to pay the federal government $700,000 for what the government said were discriminatory hiring practices.
“The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a $700,000 agreement with Covenant Transport Inc. (Covenant), as well as the affiliated entity Transport Management Services LLC (Transport), two transportation logistics and long-haul trucking companies headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee,” said a press release from the Department of Justice. “The agreement resolves the department’s determination that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by routinely discriminating against non-U.S. citizen workers when checking their permission to work in the United States.”
According to the DOJ, Covenant and Transport “routinely discriminated against non-U.S. citizens by requiring lawful permanent residents to show their Permanent Resident Cards (known as green cards) and by requiring other non-U.S. citizens to show documents related to their immigration status.”
“Employers cannot discriminate against non-U.S. citizens by demanding specific or unnecessary documents from them to prove their permission to work,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, according to the release. “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring compliance with our federal civil rights laws so that non-U.S. citizens with permission to work can contribute their talents to our workforce.”
The companies asked non-citizens to provide them with “List A” documents when “List B” or “List C” documents would suffice. For that, they were found to violate the anti-discrimination law.
Kevin Lynn is the executive director for the Institute for Sound Public Policy, which advocates for American workers. He explained the distinction in the documentation for The Tennessee Star.
“What is off-putting about this case is it was settled to resolve the investigation without further delay or expense versus a preponderance of the evidence of actual wrongdoing related to the allegation the respondents who ‘routinely required lawful permanent residents and aliens authorized to work . . . to produce List A documents during the employment eligibility process because of their immigration status,’” he said. “It makes a lot of sense for an employer to ask for List A documents (U.S. passport or Permanent Resident Card) because it reduces the burden on prospective hire to produce valid List B and List C documents (driver’s license or state issued ID card and/or social security card).”
Lynn called the practice “lawfare.”
“The U.S. Government seems to be engaging in lawfare based on questionable claims of unfair employment practices of aliens rather than focusing its efforts on behaviors that displace American workers,” he said.
He also noted that the $700,000 fine for the trucking companies seems disproportionately high when compared to fines levied against some of America’s largest corporations.
“Further, given the fines recently levied against companies such as Apple ($2.96 trillion market cap) and Facebook ($871 billion market cap) of $25 million and $15 million respectively for discrimination against American workers, the $700,000 levied against Covenant ($548 million) and Transport (privately held, data not available) for requiring lawful permanent residents to show their Permanent Resident Cards (known as green cards) and requiring other non-U.S. citizens to show documents related to their immigration status, seems excessive and further evidence the [Office of Immigrant and Employee Rights] is more interested in assisting aliens than Americans.
Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “Covenant Transport” by Covenant Logistics
