Navient agrees to pay $700K for hiring discrimination

DEI and supplier diversity are taking a hit in the wake of the June Supreme Court reversal of affirmative action, but equity isn’t dead yet.

Navient, a company that services student loans for the U.S. Department of Education and opened its headquarters in Wilmington in 2015 after splitting with Sallie Mae, has entered into a conciliation agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to resolve alleged hiring discrimination at three of its facilities in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Texas.

According to a DOL news release, a compliance review by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found that Navient discriminated against 427 Black applicants for customer service positions in Fishers, Indiana, and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and against 1,858 Black and white applicants seeking clerical positions in Austin, Texas, from 2017 to 2021, in violation of Executive Order 11246, prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating in employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. No violations were reported in Delaware.

To resolve the violations, Navient has agreed to pay $700,000 in back wages and interest. For more info (including if you think someone you know may have been affected), use the OFCCP Class Member Locator.