silicon valley software firm palantir technologies has helped the federal government hunt down terrorists. yet now the company is being accused by the labor department of discrimination based on the agency<u+2019>s supposedly superior data analysis. if that<u+2019>s the case, why doesn<u+2019>t the cia contract with labor? in 2011 labor initiated a compliance review of palantir<u+2019>s workforce, which the agency says turned up three instances of racial discrimination in failing to hire asian-americans. an executive order signed by lyndon johnson bars federal contractors from discriminating. palantir has received federal contracts worth more than $340 million since 2010. according to a complaint last month, labor says the racial composition of palantir<u+2019>s hires for three positions<u+2014>out of 44 job titles<u+2014>in 2010 and 2011 didn<u+2019>t mirror its applicant pool. palantir hired one asian and six non-asian applicants for a quantitative-analysis position out of a pool of 730 <u+201c>qualified applicants,<u+201d> 77% of whom were asian. for a software-engineer position, the company hired 14 non-asian and 11 asian applicants out of 1,160 applicants (85% of whom were asian). the complaint says the odds of this occurring <u+201c>by chance<u+201d> are one in 3.4 million. however, employers typically don<u+2019>t hire by random selection. the labor complaint never defines <u+201c>qualified,<u+201d> but suffice it to say that the agency<u+2019>s standards are lower than those of a premier tech firm. you won<u+2019>t be surprised to learn that labor relies on a disparate-impact analysis of the kind that alleges discrimination based solely on statistics. labor claims its analysis demonstrates that palantir<u+2019>s four-phase hiring process, which gives preference to employee referrals over unsolicited applications, is discriminatory. yet dol won<u+2019>t disclose its methodology. in a response filed this month, palantir notes that a quarter of its workforce and 37% of its product engineering team are of asian descent. of the 33 hired by palantir during 2010 and 2011, 36% were asian. two of the four members of palantir<u+2019>s senior leadership identify as asians. and more than half of the managers who oversaw the hiring process are asian. if palantir had selected employees at random, 80% would be asian. then labor might have said it is guilty of discriminating against latinos and blacks. labor<u+2019>s <u+201c>analysis assumes incorrectly that anyone having any <u+2018>domestic education,<u+2019> any <u+2018>internship,<u+2019> any <u+2018>prior experience,<u+2019> and <u+2018>java skills<u+2019> should be considered <u+2018>equally or more qualified<u+2019> for the positions,<u+201d> palantir says in its legal response. it adds that the department is <u+201c>essentially advocating<u+201d> an <u+201c>illegal quota system.<u+201d> labor secretary tom perez doesn<u+2019>t like targets who resist his assaults. so to punish palantir his bureaucracy is asking an administrative-law judge to cancel palantir<u+2019>s federal contracts and force the company to compensate the alleged victims of its discrimination. believe it or not, no one has come forward. palantir was co-founded by venture capitalist peter thiel, who has endorsed donald trump and donated to conservative groups like the club for growth. we have no evidence that labor<u+2019>s complaint is an act of political retribution, but then mr. perez is known for his partisanship. perhaps he<u+2019>s bidding to stay on the job if hillary clinton wins the election.
tom perez<u+2019>s junk data on palantir - wsj
noauthor