The ""Justice Department"":http://www.justice.gov/ announced Monday that it had settled discrimination claims with the nation's largest mortgage insurance provider.
[IMAGE]The settlement requires that ""Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp."":http://www.mgic.com/ (MGIC) set up a $511,250 fund to pay 70 individuals identified by federal officials as victims of the alleged discrimination and $38,750 in civil penalties to the United States.
The Justice Department said in a statement that MGIC had fully
[COLUMN_BREAK]cooperated with federal officials by turning over documents and records during the course of an investigation.
As part of the settlement, MGIC will need to subscribe to several nondiscriminatory provisions when it reviews future insurance applications, monitor the way it treats applicants, and train employees on fair housing law.
""In bringing justice to these 70 victims, this office confirms our resolve to protect the civil rights of citizens of the Western District of Pennsylvania from illegal discriminatory practices,"" ""David Hickton"":http://www.justice.gov/usao/paw/meetattorney.html, U.S. attorney of the Western District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. ""Discrimination in lending has profound and widespread consequences that will not be tolerated.""
A lawsuit filed in July last year accused the insurer of discrimination against women on maternity leave by forcing homeowners to return to work before it backed their mortgage loans between 2007 and 2010.
The person responsible for first notifying ""HUD"":http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD of the allegations will receive $42,500 to ""address her specific pain and suffering and compensate her for leave that she forfeited in response to MGIC's requirement that she return to work,"" according to the statement.