Do you need a reason to monitor your hiring and keep good records? Here's one.

Alleging race discrimination in the hiring process, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has settled with a unit of Norfolk Southern for $492,000. The OFCCP claimed that there were statistically significant differences in the hiring rates of whites and African-Americans into laborer positions over a two-year period at the unit location in Roanoke, Virginia. The company agreed to offer positions to 7 of the 2,086 African-American class members and to modify its recruitment and selection procedures to ensure non-discrimination.

The conciliation agreement provides that the settlement is not an admission of liability by the company.

Conciliation agreements like these are stark reminders to federal contractors to monitor both their hiring statistics and their recordkeeping procedures to ensure that they can support all reasons for non-selection.