- Scholar-loan firm Navient reached a settlement with the Labor Division over hiring discrimination allegations.
- Navient denied any wrongdoing and pays $700,000 to resolve the claims.
- Impacted job candidates might be notified they’re eligible to obtain again pay from the settlement.
A significant student-loan firm simply agreed to settle discrimination allegations in its hiring course of.
The Labor Division introduced on Monday that it reached a settlement with student-loan firm Navient to resolve allegations of hiring discrimination at its Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas places. A evaluate by the Labor Division’s Workplace of Federal Contract Compliance Applications stated that Navient discriminated in opposition to 427 Black candidates for customer support jobs in Indiana and Pennsylvania, together with 1,858 Black and white purposes for clerical positions in Texas.
Navient denied any wrongdoing, and the division stated within the settlement settlement that “there has not been any adjudicated discovering that Navient violated any legal guidelines. Navient spokesperson Paul Hartwick informed Insider that “range is a precedence for Navient as a result of we all know that we’re a greater service supplier when our workforce displays the communities and clients we serve, and we’re dedicated to incorporating rules of inclusion, fairness, and variety in our hiring practices and tradition.”
“Navient entered into this settlement to keep away from the prices of litigation, made no act of contrition or legal responsibility, and believes the findings are with out advantage,” he continued. “We’re glad to place this matter behind us and are pleased with the range of our workforce.”
Navient agreed to pay $700,000 in again pay and curiosity to resolve the allegations. Based on paperwork included within the settlement settlement, impacted candidates will obtain a letter from the OFCCP informing them that they might be eligible to obtain funds by means of the settlement, and to take part, they should full verification varieties inside 30 days of receiving the discover. The primary notices, in line with the settlement’s timeline, will exit on October 15, and the earliest date candidates will obtain checks within the mail is February 25, 2024.
“The settlement with Navient Corp. displays our dedication to stopping hiring discrimination and holding federal contractors accountable once they fail to satisfy the necessities of the regulation,” Workplace of Federal Contract Compliance Applications Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Samuel B. Maiden stated in a press release.
Navient exited the federal student-loan servicing business in 2021 and continues to service privately-held scholar loans. The corporate reached a separate settlement in 2022 with 39 state attorneys normal to resolve allegations of “widespread unfair, misleading, and abusive scholar mortgage servicing practices and abuses in originating predatory scholar loans,” per the press launch on the time. Navient denied these allegations, as effectively.
