Dallas Tech Company Arthur Grand Technologies Shares Job Listing Seeking Only White Candidates
Michael King Everyone makes mistakes at work. But there are some missteps you just can't come back from, as tech company Arthur Grand Technologies is currently learning the hard way.
The company is at the center of an uproar on social media and LinkedIn after posting an openly discriminatory job opening—and as so often happens with these situations, their attempts to explain themselves have only made things worse.
Tech firm Arthur Grand Technologies posted a racist job ad seeking only white, US-born candidates.
No, that's not hyperbole, and yes, it's that bad.
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The job was for a high-paying Business Analyst position in Dallas, Texas working on Salesforce and insurance claims for Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway. It included the usual job description and pay info, along with some openly discriminatory—not to mention illegal—candidate requirements.
The racist job ad quickly went viral on Reddit and LinkedIn because of its openly racist hiring requirements.
The job was posted to Indeed with an internal note about candidates' race that was obviously meant to be deleted before posting. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the note made it to the live version of the job opening. The ad read "note: Only Born US Citizens [White] who are local within 60 miles from Dallas, TX [Don't share with candidates]."
The racist job ad quickly went viral all over the internet as people expressed their shock and outrage over the company's apparent race requirements for its candidates.
A Reddit user called the job ad "illegal and nauseating" while posting a screenshot to the platform that generated thousands of angry comments.
In comments, Reddit users urged each other to report the company to the federal government for discrimination, and several users self-identifying as attorneys urged any employees reading to file suit against the company.
"Every person of color who works for this company likely has standing," one such commenter wrote, "and should start discussing their wages immediately in preparation for a discrimination suit."
Others applauded whoever posted the job ad for outing the company's discriminatory hiring practices. "Props to that recruiter for either their laziness or malicious compliance," one user commented.
On LinkedIn, several Black professionals called Arthur Grand Technologies out for what it billed as a mistake in a series of since-deleted posts. "This is so sick," a Black woman commented on one of the posts. "I live in Dallas and I've been applying for almost a year! Seeing this in black and white is so disheartening but reality I guess."
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Arthur Grand Technologies claimed the racist job ad was posted by a new employee who had since been terminated.
The company has apologized for the incident in a series of LinkedIn posts, all of which have been deleted after they sparked even more uproar as users pointed out a wealth of discrepancies in Arthur Grand Technologies' seemingly ever-changing story.
In its first attempt at tamping down the uproar, seen in the screenshot below, the company claimed to a LinkedIn user that a new employee posted the ad.
Photo credit: Arthur Grand Technologies, LinkedIn
"We conducted an investigation," the company wrote, "and discovered a new junior recruiter at our firm was responsible for the offending job posting." They went on to say that the employee had been terminated.
That narrative didn't last long, however.
Arthur Grand Technologies' story then changed in a subsequent LinkedIn post, and now nobody believes what they're saying.
When that initial explanation did nothing to tamp down the uproar, Arthur Grand Technologies followed up with a new LinkedIn post claiming the job ad was a malicious act by a disgruntled former employee, as seen in the screenshot below.
Photo credit: Arthur Grand Technologies, LinkedIn
Related Stories From YourTango:In its new post, Arthur Grand Technologies claimed, "a former employee took an existing posting and added discriminatory language, then reposted it through his own account." They went on to claim they have initiated "legal action" against the employee.
If that story doesn't add up to you, you are not alone—especially since, as a tech company, this presents a fairly implausible lapse in data security for a tech company. In a series of comments deleted by the company, seen in screenshots below, LinkedIn users took the company to task for the way its stories weren't adding up.
Photo credit: Arthur Grand Technologies/LinkedIn
"Even if this statement were true," one commenter wrote, "not sure 'IT company can't effectively manage access' is the absolution you think it is." The commenter added a clown emoji for extra effect.
For others, it was simply the way the story kept changing that didn't pass the smell test. "This is an even more ridiculous explanation that your first attempt," another commenter wrote. "I highly doubt this new/former (which is it?...) employee even exists."
The company has since locked down its social media presence and has turned comments off on LinkedIn and other platforms.
Anyway, if anyone's looking for a new gig in crisis PR, we know of a company that's almost certainly hiring.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.
