WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The American Association of Colleges and Podiatric Medicine (AACPM) and 121 podiatry residency programs have agreed to settle allegations they discriminated against work-authorized non-U.S. citizens, the Justice Department has announced.
According to the department, the programs and AACPM created postings for podiatry residents between 2013 and 2015 that were discriminatory and in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Specifically, the postings limited podiatry residency positions to U.S. citizens, despite there being no legal authorization for the citizenship requirement.
“Immigrants authorized to work in our country should never face unlawful discriminatory barriers to employment,” said principal deputy assistant attorney general Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Across the industry, these settlements will ensure that qualified medical students have equal opportunities to join podiatry residency programs and provide healthcare services to our communities.”
AACPM will pay $65,000 in civil penalties and has been mandated to provide training to its staff on anti-discrimination rules in accordance with the INA. The residency programs will remove citizenship requirements from podiatry residency postings. Additionally, some settlements require the programs to pay civil penalties. The total amount paid by the programs is $141,500.