The Department of Labor announced that John Deere has agreed to pay over $1.1 million to job applicants after facing allegations of systemic hiring discrimination that affected Black and Hispanic applicants.
According to the Department of Labor, routine evaluations by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found hiring imbalances at three of the company’s facilities in Milan, Illinois, and Waterloo and Ankeny, Iowa.
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The findings alleged discrimination against 265 Black applicants and 12 Hispanic applicants seeking assembler, production and warehouse positions.
In addition to the $1.1 million in back wages and interest, John Deere will extend 53 job offers to eligible class members.
The latest allegations against John Deere come nearly nine months after a lawsuit between an employee and the company regarding racial discrimination and a Civil Rights Act violation. The employee, Johnnie Ray Hogan III, claimed that he faced years of racist taunts and targets from multiple coworkers and managers at a Des Moines, Iowa factory.
The Des Moines Register reported that John Deere attorneys denied many of the claims and wrote in a filing that Hogan’s damages were contributed to or caused by his actions. However, the company eventually reached a settlement with Hogan. Details of the settlement were not immediately disclosed.
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