Discrimination Against Potential Employees Will Cost Hobart Dots Store

Hobart retailer Dots is agreeing to pay $246,500 to victims of discriminatory hiring practices, according to a document filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond.

Dots also agrees to take additional steps to help any of those people who are still interested in a job with the store at 1662 E. 80th Ave., according to the consent decree.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against the retailer last year when a white woman who applied for a job claimed she was told by an employee they didn’t hire white people.

The EEOC has said in other court documents it has identified at least 22 other people who were denied a job because of their race and there are possibly 15 to 20 more people who were discriminated against.

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Dots is still allowed to make its own hiring decisions but must keep track of racial information for anyone who applies for a job with the store.

Employees must make note of why someone was interviewed for a position but did not receive it, according to the decree. The store must then send four reports on its hiring practices to the EEOC over the next three years.

The consent decree also calls for employees to receive proper hiring training and to post notices that it is an equal opportunity employer.