Job candidate receives rejection letter saying her name is too ‘ghetto’

A health company is claiming it was hacked after a job applicant received a rejection letter saying that candidates with 'ghetto' names would not be considered for a post.

Mantality Health, in Missouri, sent the email to Hermeisha Robinson stating: “Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately, we do not consider candidates that have suggestive 'ghetto' names. We wish the best in your career search."

The 27-year-old, of St Louis, had applied for a customer service job at the company.

"When I read the email I was just appalled," Ms Robinson said. "I don't understand why would they not consider me? Just because of my name?"

She added: “My feelings are very hurt and they even got me second-guessing my name, trying to figure out if my name is really that ‘ghetto’.”

The rejection went viral after she posted it on Facebook and urged people to share. “Discrimination has to stop,” said Ms Robinson, who was named after her father Herman who died when she was younger.

“Her mum loved that name,” her cousin Miltina Burnett said, according to the Daily Mail. “She is not going to change it.”

Kevin Meuret, the owner of the company – which offers testosterone replacement therapy – has now apologised and told the St Louis Post-Dispatch he believes a disgruntled employee hacked the email system and sent the reply.

He said it was one of about 20 sent to different job seekers.

“I'm a father of three daughters and that young lady getting that is horrible,” Mr Meuret said. “That young lady opened something that must have felt like a freight train and that's unacceptable.”

He added the company had launched an investigation with job hunting website Indeed.com to locate the IP address of the email sender and had filed a report with police.