The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announces that government contractor JacintoPort International LLC is planning to settle allegations of discriminatory hiring that affected 48 African-American and 21 Caucasian job applicants who were rejected for longshoreman positions at the company's cargo facility in Houston.

"In this day and age, it is shocking that any company would allow race to be a factor in determining who gets hired," says OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. "This settlement should put all federal contractors on notice that in the Obama administration we will be persistent when it comes to rooting out workplace discrimination and will vigilantly monitor employers who violate the law until they get it right."

OFCCP cited JacintoPort in the past for breaching provisions of Executive Order 11246 when it did not implement an applicant tracking system for new hires and develop and execute action-oriented programs to recruit women and African-Americans. Those issues were settled June 6, 2006, through a conciliation document that outlined JacintoPort agreement to correct the violations and provide semiannual reports on the company's progress in employing women and minorities.