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[Guevara]

The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday filed an administrative lawsuit against Palantir Technologies, alleging the data analytics and security company systematically discriminated against Asian job applicants.

Privately held Palantir helps government agencies track down terrorists and uncover financial fraud. It raised $880 million in funding late last year, for a $20 billion valuation, and is considered one of Silicon Valley’s most secretive companies.

The lawsuit alleges Palantir routinely eliminated Asian applicants in the resume screening and telephone interview phases, even when they were as qualified as white applicants.

Palantir denied the allegations in a statement and said it intends to “vigorously defend” against them.

Palantir was co-founded by Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale, two of Silicon Valley’s more influential investors and entrepreneurs. Thiel spoke at the Republican National Convention in July and is one of the most prominent tech supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/palantir-sued-over-alleged-hiring-discrimination-1474928585

Palantir is a government contractor, so this could really hurt them.

 

[quackamole]

Guy is a Trump supporter, nuff said.

 

[entremet]

Phone screens are known to do this.

It's the hidden secret of the HR recruitment world along with "culture fits".

 

[Nazgul_Hunter]

I mean... the fact that it's called Palantir should tell you enough. Why would you call a company that

 

[Guevara]

What kind of person would start a tech company in Palo Alto and then systematically not hire Asian engineers? It's just bizarre, really. You'd have to go out of your way.

 

[YoungFa]

I mean... the fact that it's called Palantir should tell you enough. Why would you call a company that

What does that mean?

 

[Jintor]

I blame saruman

 

[Joeku]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnbOcNmbpj4

 

[El Topo]

What does that mean?

I think those were the seeing stones from LotR.

 

[Retro]

Wasn't this the same place that refused to hire women because they required maternity leave?

Edit: Nevermind, they never found out which company that was.

What does that mean?

It's a Lord of the Rings reference, the Palantir were seeing stones you could use to communicate across distances.

 

[Branduil]

Yeah naming your company after spying devices used by the embodiment of all evil is kind of...

 

[Guevara]

Palantir are these things in the LotR series

 

[DataGhost]

This is ridiculous and the fact that they were found out is good considering they were probably very obvious about it

 

[neorej]

Palantir are these things in the LotR series

And they're racist as fuck.

 

[neverknowsbest]

The suit cited several instances of bias. For a software engineer position, the government said, the company hired 14 non-Asians and 11 Asians among more than 1,160 qualified applicants of whom 85% were Asian.

Asians are still getting hired, it's not like they outright ban Asians. But this kind of anti-Asian bias is commonplace.

I don't understand why they're going after Palantir for this when places like every single school in the Ivy League blatantly show the same type of bias.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

Should just change my last name to Smith... :'(

 

[Damerman]

Ominous doesn't begin to describe this company.

 

[Cagey]

I've gone through the interview process at Palantir.

It's equal parts Silicon Valley (the show) and tremendously creepy. Perhaps the most smug-yet-unaware folks I've ever encountered; most of the white shoe firms I've met are at least aware of how far their heads are collectively up their asses.

 

[rpmurphy]

Asians are still getting hired, it's not like they outright ban Asians. But this kind of anti-Asian bias is commonplace.

I don't understand why they're going after Palantir for this when places like every single school in the Ivy League blatantly show the same type of bias.

They have significant government contracts, that's why.

Promoting workplace diversity is a good thing, particularly in an industry that is highly important to the economy and the future of the world. It's definitely a challenge to accomplish that when coming off of a history of that particular workforce being predominantly white to one that is now equally (if not more if you count global candidates) comprised of Asian ethnicities. I would probably be more curious as to what percentages of those non-Asian hires are black and Hispanic, and what the male-female split is in the company.