Staffing Company Rejected Job Candidate Because She Was Born in Germany, Federal Agency Charged

ST. LOUIS – ResourceMFG, a national manufacturing specialty staffing company, will pay $75,000 to resolve a national origin discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the suit, Anke Hicks, a German-born, naturalized U.S. citizen, sought employment through ResourceMFG in February 2020 and was offered a position at a federal government contractor that required U.S. citizenship. ResourceMFG told Hicks she was required to present a United States birth certificate to complete the hiring process. Hicks explained she did not have a U.S. birth certificate but she could provide documents proving her U.S. citizenship. ResourceMFG terminated the onboarding process and told Hicks she could not be hired because she was not born in the United States.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employers from treating applicants or employees unfavorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world, or because of their ethnicity or accent,. The EEOC filed its lawsuit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Employbridge of Dallas, Inc., d/b/a ResourceMFG, Civil Action No. 5:22-cv-00499-J) in June 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement via its conciliation process.

The three-year consent decree requires ResourceMFG to pay $75,000 in monetary damages to the applicant and adopt policies, enact procedures, provide employee training, and periodically report to the EEOC to ensure future compliance with Title VII. The decree also requires ResourceMFG to notify job applicants the company will provide equal employment opportunities and will not unlawfully discriminate based on national origin.

“Citizenship requirements are permitted only where required by law, regulation, executive order, or government contract,” said Andrea G. Baran, regional attorney for the EEOC’s St. Louis District office. “Staffing agencies may not add additional requirements, such as U.S. birth, when screening or selecting applicants for referral to positions with legitimate citizenship requirements.”

David Davis, acting director of the EEOC’s St. Louis District office, said, “Federal law requires all workers be given equal opportunity in employment regardless of their national origin. We are pleased this decree provides training to managers and recruiters about Title VII's requirements.”

The EEOC’s St. Louis District Office is responsible for receiving and investigating charges of employment discrimination and conducting agency litigation in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and a portion of southern Illinois, with area offices in Kansas City, Kansas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

For more information on national origin discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/national-origin-discrimination.

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.