As the newspaper industry struggles to stay relevant in this highly technological age, The Washington Post faces a major lawsuit. Although the newspaper giant itself is at the center of serious allegations, it is actually its subsidiary, Kaplan Higher Education, that is alleged to have discriminated against applicants due to credit ratings. As most other employers in the US, Kaplan Higher Education conducts background checks on applicants to ensure that all employees meet a specific set of standards. US employers have to make sure that they select their new hires ethically, and Kaplan Higher Education is accused of rescinding job offers after finding that some applicants had negative credit histories. Most of the time, background checks are initiated and completed before any type of job offer is made. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission believes that Kaplan discriminated against applicants due to race and selectively used credit ratings to justify their actions.
In the last few months, Kaplan has been in hot water due to unethical recruiting practices. In Florida, officials allege that Kaplan recruiters grossly mislead applicants to believe that they would be able to make substantially more money in their chosen fields after graduating from the school. Since then, Kaplan Higher Education has temporarily put a hold on enrollment at two of their campuses. All of this bad press has sent the Washington Post Co.’s stock plummeting. Since the newspaper company gets much of its profits from Kaplan, these allegations have cost the company nearly 3% of their shares in just over 24 hours. As more details become available, it is almost certain that the Washington Post Co. will have to vigorously fight these allegations with solid proof. Kaplan is one of the most popular online schools and has almost single handedly changed the way that the world looks at online degrees. While these allegations will hurt the company, they are still a highly regarded institution of learning.
