A Kuwaiti firm has promised to comply with New York State’s human rights law barring discrimination in employment. The pledge was made by Yusuf A. Alghanim & Sons after the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights over a help wanted ad placed in the New York Times for the firm last July specifying that the job applicant “must be an Arab-American.”
A statement signed by the president of the company advised the State agency that its hiring practices were “based solely on their (the applicants’) qualifications for the specific positions in question without regard to the individual’s age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability or marital status.” The policy complies with the human rights law and the ADL has withdrawn its complaint, according to Arnold Forster, general counsel of the ADL.
The advertising agency serving the Kuwaiti firm, Bird & Falborn, explained that the “Arab American” specification was contained in the ad as a result of “a completely innocent and inadvertent mistake.” The agency said the mistake was made because the job called for “an Arab speaking individual.” The advertisement was placed on behalf of William H. Clark Associates which has been recruiting personnel for the Arab company here for the past five years. The recruiting agency has also apologized for the ad.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
