Food importer to pay $400K in discrimination case

[November 18, 2011]  SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) -- A Southern California Asian food importer has agreed to pay $400,000 in back wages and interest to 71 women who were rejected for sales jobs.

The U.S. Labor Department says in a news release Thursday that Tokyo-based Nishimoto Trading Co. has agreed to settle the hiring discrimination case.

The 100-year-old importer will also offer jobs to 14 women in the case when those sales jobs are available at its U.S. headquarters in Santa Fe Springs.

Federal investigators say Nishimoto failed to give qualified job applicants equal consideration for employment without regard to gender, a violation of federal labor laws. The company holds Department of Defense contracts totaling $1.2 million.

A voice mail message left for Nishimoto spokeswoman Lisa Tanaka hasn't been returned.

[Associated Press]

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