The Department of Commerce has repudiated and ordered the retraction of a discriminatory advertisement for employment in Saudi Arabia published in the Placement Bulletin of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The action was taken in response to a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.
According to Arnold Forster, ADL associate director and general counsel, the Academy’s Placement Office Bulletin had printed an advertisement which stated that applicants for a job on a ship anchored off Saudi Arabia “must be able to obtain a Saudi visa.” The Saudis do not grant visas to Jews. The advertisement was published in behalf of a private employer in San Francisco.
The ADL complaint, addressed to the Maritime Administration of the Department of Commerce, pointed out that a Presidential directive, a memorandum from the Secretary of Labor, and official regulations issued in February by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program prohibited the publication of such discriminatory requirements for employment of Americans overseas.
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