On December 6, 2024, the Department of Justice announced that it secured an agreement with Pennsylvania-based HCSG East LLC and its parent company, Healthcare Services Group Inc. (HCSG), a nationwide provider of housekeeping, laundry, and food services for healthcare and nursing facilities. The agreement resolves DOJ’s determination that HCSG discriminated against non-U.S. citizens with permission to work in the United States when hiring at its Siler City, North Carolina, location and engaged in unfair practices regarding work authorization documents.
Specifically, DOJ’s Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) concluded that HCSG discriminated against a worker by refusing to honor her valid document showing her permission to work because of her citizenship status. IER’s investigation also determined that HCSG had a policy of unlawfully refusing to hire certain workers who had permission to work but were not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents at its Siler City location from at least February 2022 to at least December 2022.
Under the settlement, HCSG will pay a civil penalty of $6,914 to the United States and provide $10,500 in backpay to an affected worker. The backpay includes lost wages and benefits, including lost overtime pay, bonuses, fringe benefits, paid holidays, vacation time, and interest, less any required withholdings. The agreement also requires HCSG to “train its personnel on the Immigration and Nationality Act’s requirements, revise its employment policies, broadly recruit workers, avoid unnecessary English-language requirements in its job ads and be subject to departmental monitoring,” DOJ said.