SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - The state of South Dakota has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging the state Department of Social Services discriminated against American Indian job applicants.
The U.S. Department of Justice brought the lawsuit in 2015 following a discrimination complaint by Cedric Goodman. Goodman was informed in December 2010 that he had not been selected for an employment specialist position that the Department of Social Services had posted for its Pine Ridge office. The specialist positions tended to be higher paying jobs offered by the department.
Goodman met the qualifications, which included an extensive work history and a bachelor’s degree in a related field as well as credits toward a master’s degree. He was one of six applicants interviewed for the position, five of whom were Native American. But on Dec. 12, 2010, the job posting was canceled and none of those interviewed were offered the job.
The next day, a new vacancy for an employment specialist was posted. The department hired a white woman for the job who had just graduated from college and whose work history had not been in a related field, according to the DOJ complaint.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission turned the case over to the Justice Department after failing to negotiate a resolution of Goodman’s complaint.
In its lawsuit, the Justice Department alleged that between Jan. 1, 2010, and Jan. 31, 2012, the department posted 18 specialist positions. The suit alleged that 40% of the applicants were Native Americans, but only one was hired while 11 whites were hired. Some of the vacancies went unfilled and were closed despite qualified Native American applicants, the lawsuit alleged.
As part of the settlement filed Wednesday, the Department of Social Services agreed to turn over nearly five years of hiring data for specialist positions at the department’s Pine Ridge office. The department did not admit wrongdoing.
Of the state’s payment, the Argus Leader reports $10,000 will go to the estate of Goodman, who died last year. The rest of the money will be distributed to 60 American Indians who applied but did not receive employment as a specialist between 2007 and 2013. Those applicants will need to apply, and the money will be distributed equally among those who apply.
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