A federal law called the Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits the following types of employment-related discrimination against immigrants:
- Citizenship or immigration status discrimination with respect to hiring, firing, and recruitment or referral for a fee, by employers with four or more employees. Employers may not treat individuals differently because they are, or are not, U.S. citizens or work authorized immigrants. U.S. citizens, many permanent residents, temporary residents, asylees and refugees are protected from citizenship status discrimination.
- National origin discrimination with respect to hiring, firing, and recruitment or referral for a fee, by employers with more than three and fewer than 15 employees. Employers may not treat individuals differently because of their place of birth, country of origin, ancestry, native language, accent or because they are perceived as looking or sounding "foreign." U.S. citizens and all work authorized individuals are protected from national origin discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has national origin jurisdiction over employers with 15 or more employees.
- Unfair documentary practices related to verifying the employment eligibility of employees. Employers may not, on the basis of citizenship status or national origin, request more or different documents than are required to verify employment eligibility and identity, reject reasonably genuine-looking documents or specify certain documents over others. U.S. citizens and all work authorized immigrants are protected from document abuse.
- Retaliation. Individuals who file discrimination charges with the federal government, who cooperate with a government investigation, who contest action that may constitute unfair documentary practices or discrimination based upon citizenship status or national origin, or who otherwise assert their rights under the INA's anti-discrimination provision are protected from retaliation.
Related Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws:
See also:
