Monster mistake
Job
site's move to drop Iranians raises legal and ethical questions
April 23, 2003
The Iranian
On
April 24, Monster.com, the world's largest online job search and
career management company, will delete the word "Iran," along with
the names of six other countries--Burma/Myanmar, Cuba, Libya, North
Korea, Sudan, and Syria--from its standard format for resumes. According
to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the
U.S. government has not encouraged Monster to make this decision
and does not find it necessary.
In
addition to the change to the resumes, individuals and organizations
with addresses in these countries will be dropped from Monster's
website. Resumes with addresses inside Iran or any of the other
countries will be taken down, and employers with an address in any
of these countries will no longer be able to use Monster's hiring
services. International organizations such as the United Nations,
non-governmental organizations, and foreign companies with addresses
in these countries will not be exempt, and will no longer be able
to use Monster's employment services.
In
a form letter dated April 18, and emailed to job seekers with the
names of these countries in their resumes, Monster states:
The
U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control,
as well as some states, maintain sanctions which prohibit U.S.
companies from conducting certain business activities with organizations
located in or residents of the following countriesÖ In order for
Monster to comply with applicable U.S. federal and state regulations,
we will be removing the Sanctioned Countries from the site. Your
resume included one (or more) of the Sanctioned Countries. Therefore,
your resume will be altered, removing all Sanctioned Countries
from your resume(s).
On
April 21, Kendra Morley, a Monster customer service representative
explained the policy to the National Iranian American Council (NIAC):
"We are simply taking the names of these countries off our
site. We can't have references to these particular countries. Our
legal Department found it in Monster's best interest to take those
references out."
A
Monster.com user in the United States, who in 1994 received a Bachelor
of Science degree from Iran University of Science Technology, received
the April 18 notification. Monster's customer service department
advised him to move that information, currently under "Education,"
to the "Other Skills" section of his resume because that section
"is not searchable." He was also told that Monster decided to take
the step as a protective measure from the U.S. Department of Treasury.
After contacting the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC), the individual was informed that no directive or regulation
from OFAC required Monster to take such action.
Founded
in 1994 by Monster Chairman Jeff Taylor, the company describes itself
as "the leading global careers network on the internet." It maintains
sites in 22 countries, almost all in Europe, cites millions of job
seekers, over a million job postings, and profiles of 130,000 employers.
"My
Monster," a free service for job seekers, allows individuals to
create and post a detailed resume profile on Monster's website to
be searched by employers worldwide. It requires users to type the
contents of already existing resumes into a standardized Monster
format. As a result of the company's new policy, the names of the
specified sanctioned countries can no longer appear as an official
location on Monster resumes.
According
to Monster, the new policy is not censorship. The company says it
will not be scanning resumes for words and deleting them arbitrarily,
rather, the sanctioned countries will be taken out of Monster's
standard drop down format of countries--this, Monster alleges, is
to prevent Iranian employers and individuals from putting up profiles
and listings on Monster's website.
So,
after April 24, Indonesia will be directly followed by Iraq, Norfolk
Island by Northern Mariana Islands, and Croatia by Cyprus. The seven
countries will basically disappear from the country lists in the
"Candidate Information," "Education," and "Target Locations" sections
of Monster resumes. In other words, if you happen to live in Iran,
if you studied in Iran, or if you want to live and work in Iran,
Monster will not help you.
So
what do you do if at one point you've lived, studied, or worked
in one of these countries? According to Monster, there are "work
arounds." Users can manually type in the names of these countries
in other areas. For example, they can be listed in "Other Skills"
or in the "Experience" and "Education" sections normally designated
for descriptions of the work or study an individual conducted. Oddly,
the only thing that can't be done is to list the names of these
countries as actual locations.
For
employers or job seekers with addresses in the sanctioned countries,
no "work arounds" exist. A young Iranian living in Iran cannot use
Monster to find job opportunities in the U.S.--or anywhere else in
the world for that matter. Neither can a Dane, a Frenchman, or an
Indian seeking work in one of the sanctioned countries.
So
why is Monster isolating seven countries, and alienating seven ethnic
communities from its business activities and from the global job
market? It claims that as a business, it is required to do so to
be in compliance with U.S. regulations. But OFAC disputed this assertion.
Darryl Bailey, an OFAC information specialist, was adamant that
Monster's actions were unrelated to the sanctions program. "We have
nothing to do with that," said Bailey. "The Treasury Department
is not, I repeat, NOT advising Monster to do this."
OFAC's
compliance department reiterated Bailey's claim. "This is a false
reading of the sanctions program," a compliance officer said. "Someone
can be denied a job this way. I can assure you of the position of
OFAC. [Profiling and discrimination] is not the intent of the sanctions.
These companies are deviating from their purposes, and I strongly
suggest they confer with legal counsel here before they use the
U.S. government as a bookmark for their own purposes."
Monster's
director of legal affairs, Donna Guilmette, however, assured NIAC
that her office was in contact with OFAC, and that a specialist
there, along with outside counsel, had confirmed that Monster's
actions were, indeed, necessary to be in compliance with the sanctions
program. "[Matching job seekers with companies] was deemed to be
a facilitation of business activity," Guilmette told NIAC. "We are
trying to comply. We are not trying to be discriminatory."
On
April 22, NIAC held a conference call with Guilmette and OFAC Sanctions
Monitoring Specialist Zack Woodyard. Woodyard described Monster's
decision to remove residents of Iran from its website in order to
stay in compliance as a "good idea," but stopped short of stating
that the action was advised or required by OFAC. Woodyard also expressed
that he didn't think Monster should remove Iran from the drop down
box in the "Education" section of its resumes. "It has no relevance
at all if someone got an education in Iran," Woodyard said.
Guilmette
described that as a "technical glitch" since Monster's format is
standardized throughout its site. She was unable to promise that
Monster would find a way around it due to costs. When asked, however,
about citizens and nationals of other countries living in Iran,
Guilmette said Monster would make every effort to find a way around
that issue as long as the affected person called and described their
situation. This, before Woodyard clarified that the U.S. Code prohibited
any U.S. entity from exporting a good to any person or entity residing
in Iran. Guilmette quickly retracted Monster's offer to make those
exceptions for nationals of other countries.
Monster's
move raises many legal and ethical questions that must be answered
in the days to come.
1.
Is it ethnic profiling, censorship, and discrimination to prohibit
job seekers from listing Iran and other countries as locations in
the world?
2.
Does Monster violate the rights to information exchange, exempt
from sanctions, of residents of these countries? Since the company
draws no revenue from job seekers, what business transaction is
being conducted with individuals seeking access to international
job information? For example, an Iranian information technology
expert living in Iran and seeking employment in Canada. Or a Spaniard
working as a journalist in Iran and looking for employment in the
United States?
3.
Finally, what drove Monster to make this change now? Currently,
U.S. companies are allowed to offer individuals living in Iran employment
in the U.S. and sponsor their work visas. If this transaction is
legal under the current sanction code, how could information exchange
that enables Iranian youth to find potential employers in the U.S.
be deemed a violation of the sanctions? Thus far, no other online
employment agencies (careerbuilder.com,
hotjobs.com) have followed
Monster's lead.
It
remains to be seen if Monster's policy, which analysts deem to be
excessive, will remain an exception or if it will become common
practice in Corporate America in the near future. However one interprets
the U.S. sanctions policy, it wasn't the U.S. government that knocked
on Monster's door. Monster just decided to open it.
What
can you do?
Write
Monster.com and share your views on this issue. It is important
that Monster realizes the sentiments of the Iranian-American community,
as well as the loss of business their decision may cause them if
people switch to other online employment agencies. NIAC is contacting
Iranian-American executives in the US to discuss possible actions
taken by Iranian-American employers as well.
Furthermore,
contact your member of Congress through this
link. and let them know how this issue is affecting you and
your loved ones. NIAC members have already taken the issue up with
a Maryland Representative, and our lawmakers need to be educated
by the community in order to be able to help the community.
Last
but not least, support
NIAC financially! NIAC can only support the Iranian-American
community to the extent that the community supports NIAC. Your donations
will be used to defend the interest and rights of Iranian-Americans
of all walks of life.
Author
Dokhi Fassihian (M.A. in international relations from Johns
Hopkins University, Maryland) is a political analyst in Washington
DC and member of NIAC. This article first appeared on NIAC's
website.
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