Today, Palantir settled a lawsuit brought by the Department of Labor last year alleging a pattern of discrimination against Asian-American job candidates. In response to the allegations, Palantir will pay $1,659,434 in back wages and other monetary relief. The company will extend job offers to eight applicants who participated in the lawsuit.
“We appreciate Palantir working with us to resolve these issues,” said Thomas Dowd, acting director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the Department of Labor. “Together, we will ensure that the company complies with equal employment opportunity laws in its recruitment, hiring, and other employment practices.”
$1.6 million is a relatively small payout for Palantir, which reportedly brought in $1.7 billion in revenue in 2015, but it is roughly in line with similar discrimination settlements obtained by the Department of Labor in the recent past.
The settlement is particularly notable given the administration’s close ties to Palantir founder Peter Thiel. An outspoken supporter of Trump during the campaign, Thiel donated $1.25 million to the candidate and played an active role on his transition team, during the same period the Department of Labor was pressing its case against Palantir. Notably, President Trump did not appoint a new secretary of labor during that period: former US Attorney Alexander Acosta, Trump’s current pick for labor secretary, is still awaiting confirmation by the Senate.