Defense contractor Rosemount Aerospace will pay the government $712,000 to settle claims it discriminated against 26 Black job applicants in Burnsville in 2018 and 2019, according to a notice issued Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) conducted a statistical analysis to check if the company was complying with defense contractor rules that mandate diverse hiring.
The compliance review, completed last month, found the company's numbers came up short. It concluded that Rosemount Aerospace had discriminated against Black job candidates who applied for jobs assembling aircraft sensor equipment at the Burnsville plant.
Rosemount Aerospace officials on Wednesday were not immediately available for comment. Labor officials noted that the company fully cooperated with the investigation.
Under what is termed a "conciliation agreement," Rosemount Aerospace agreed to offer jobs to at least 26 Black applicants who had applied at the plant between January 2018 and June 2019. Affected applicants will be paid $712,500 in back wages and interest.
But first they must be identified.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance is launching a "Class Member Locator" link/website to search for potential applicants, said Department of Labor spokeswoman Rhonda Burke in an interview Wednesday.
Burke explained that using statistics, labor investigators were able to determine that Rosemount Aerospace violated federal discrimination law.