Immigrant-Bias Claim Tags Abercrombie & Fitch

(CN) - Abercrombie & Fitch reached a low six-figure settlement of claims by the Department of Justice that it discriminates against non-U.S. citizens.

The DOJ's Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices had opened an investigation into Abercrombie after it received a charge in May 2014, accusing the Columbus, Ohio-based retailer of having required a non-U.S. citizen to produce a green card when she applied for a job.

Similarly-situated U.S. citizens did not face the same requirements, the DOJ said.

An anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits employers from making specific documentary demands based on citizenship status or national origin when verifying an employee's employment eligibility, feds note.

The settlement that Abercrombie and the United States filed Thursday requires Abercrombie to pay the discriminated-against applicant $3,661.14 in back pay.

In addition to a civil penalty to the United States, Abercrombie must also create a back-pay fund of $153,932 to compensate other individuals its practices may have harmed.

Abercrombie's employment eligibility verification practices also face two years of monitoring.

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