Panda Express to Pay $600,000 In Federal Worker Discrimination Lawsuit

Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. has reached a $600,000 agreement with the federal government after being accused of discriminating against workers who weren’t American citizens.

According to USA Today, the Chinese food chain required its employees who were legal permanent residents of the U.S. to reestablish their work authorization when their documents expired even though they didn’t ask the same of their staffers who are citizens, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The business also required non-citizens to show their immigration documents to verify again that they could work even though they’d already done so previously.

Under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, employers aren’t allowed to ask for workers for these kinds of documents when it’s based on their citizenship status or national origin.

Panda Express will have to pay $400,000 to the federal government, and create a $200,000 fund to provide back pay to affected workers. The company said it never intended to discriminate.