ROME, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor has announced Ball Container LLC, a subsidiary of Ball Corp., has entered into a conciliation agreement in which the employer will pay $309,000 in back wages and interest to resolve alleged race-based hiring discrimination at the company’s beverage manufacturing facility in Rome.
A routine compliance review by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found that, from Feb. 1, 2020, through Jan. 31, 2021, the employer discriminated against 192 Black applicants for production technician positions at the facility. The agency determined Ball Container’s actions violated Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.
“Discrimination is preventable when employers have nondiscriminatory hiring procedures in place and see to it that they are followed,” said Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Acting Director Michele Hodge. “OFCCP will use every action available by law to ensure workers and job seekers are treated fairly, and that everyone has access to good paying jobs.”
“Federal contractors that fail to give equal consideration to all applicants – regardless of gender, race or ethnicity – violate the law,” said Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Acting Southeast Regional Director Diana Sen in Atlanta. “There is no gray area for federal contractors, as regulations require them to ensure equal opportunity for all workers and compliance with federal employment laws.”
Headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, Ball Corp. is a federal contractor that supplies aluminum packaging for beverage, personal care and household products, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Since 2020, Ball Corp. has received more than $1.1 billion in contracts with the Department of the Air Force, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Space Development Agency.
OFCCP launched the Class Member Locator to identify applicants or workers who may be entitled to monetary relief and/or consideration for job placement as a result of OFCCP’s compliance evaluations and complaint investigations. If you think you may be a class member, someone who applied for a production technician position with Ball Container LLC at its Rome facility during the investigative period, please use OFCCP’s Class Member Locator to learn more about this and other settlements.
In addition to Executive Order 11246, OFCCP enforces Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. Together, these laws prohibit employment discrimination.
Learn more about OFCCP.
