Justice Department Settles Claim Against Maryland Construction Firm for Discriminating Against U.S. Workers

The Department of Justice today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement resolving the Department’s claims that a Baltimore County, Maryland construction firm, Hallaton Inc., which installs geosynthetic liners, violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by preferring H-2B visa workers over qualified U.S. workers. This is the eighth settlement under the Civil Rights Division’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which is aimed at targeting, investigating, and taking enforcement actions against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of temporary visa workers. Since the Initiative’s inception, employers have agreed to pay or have distributed a combined total of more than $1.2 million in back pay to affected U.S. workers and civil penalties to the United States.