‘We don’t want your ghetto name’

A JOBSEEKER in the US was shocked when she received a rejection letter claiming she wouldn’t be considered for a role because of her “ghetto name”.

But the company she applied to says the letter isn’t real, and that the email is the work of hackers.

Hermeisha Robinson of Bellefontaine Neighbors in Missouri applied for a job at Mantality Health via the job website Indeed.com.

She was shocked at the manner she was rejected, when she received a reply saying the company wouldn’t consider her because of her name.

Ms Robinson posted the rejection letter on her Facebook page on Monday and already it’s had in excess of 7000 shares and 2000 comments.

The discriminatory response came from a person claiming to work for Mantality Health.

It read: “Thank you for your interest in careers at Mantality Health. Unfortunately we do not consider candidates that have suggestive ‘ghetto’ names. We wish the best in your career search.”

In a post revealing the message, Hermeisha explains that she is “very upset” and her “feelings are very hurt”.

She also writes that they “discriminated against me because of my name” and that “discrimination has to stop”.

But Jack Gamache, clinic director of St Louis Mantality Health, denied the company has such a policy, and the note sent to Ms Robinson wasn’t from them.

“Our Indeed account was hacked, that’s where everything was sent from. That’s all we can say right now because of the ongoing investigations,” he said.

A statement issued on behalf of Ms Robinson, through her legal representative Richard K. Dowd, of Dowd & Dowd, P.C. said: “Ms Robinson is asking herself, as we all should be asking, why a business would so openly and brazenly announce and pursue a hiring policy that targets people because they are of colour rather than hire people based upon their desire to work and support their families.

“We need to call out and address this kind of rank bigotry for the disgrace that it is in this country that stands for us all being created equal.

“Despite what some people believe and how they act it is illegal to discriminate in employment practices on the basis of a person’s race.

“What has been done to Ms Robinson is inherently wrong, and we will pursue all legal remedies on her behalf to right this blatant injustice.”