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Preventing Discrimination
Preventing Discrimination
The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals based on their citizenship or immigration status, or based on their national origin, in the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, process. It is important for employers to develop, implement and enforce anti-discrimination policies, practices and procedures, and to ensure that all employees and their authorized representatives conducting Form I-9 verification on their behalf understand the rules. Employers should also provide them with appropriate and adequate education on employer responsibilities and worker rights.
To prevent discrimination, the employer should treat all people equally when:
- Announcing a job
- Taking applications
- Performing interviews
- Making job offers
- Verifying the individual's authorization to work
- Hiring the individual
- Terminating the individual's employment
Employers also must not retaliate against a person who:
- Files a charge of discrimination with the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
- Participates in an investigation or prosecution of a discrimination complaint
- Asserts his or her rights or the rights of another person under anti-discrimination laws
IER investigates charges of employment discrimination related to an individual's citizenship or immigration status or national origin. EEOC also investigates employment discrimination based on national origin, in addition to other protected bases. IER investigates national origin claims against employers with 4 to 14 employees and EEOC investigates national origin claims against employers with 15 or more employees.
Preventing Discrimination in the Form I-9 Process
Employers must accept any document an employee presents from the Lists of Acceptable Documents, as long as the document reasonably appears to be genuine and to relate to the employee. Employers must not:
- Demand that an employee show specific documents
- Ask to see employment authorization documents before an individual accepts a job offer
- Refuse to accept a document, or refuse to hire an individual, because a document will expire in the future
- Refuse to accept a receipt that is acceptable for Form I-9 purposes
- Demand a specific document when reverifying that an employee is authorized to work
Remember: employers must reject documents that do not reasonably appear to be genuine or to relate to the individual presenting them.
Types of Employment Discrimination Covered by IER
Types | What is prohibited? | Who is protected? | Is my employer covered? |
|---|---|---|---|
Citizenship or immigration status | Employers must not discriminate with respect to hiring, firing, recruitment or referral for a fee against individuals because they are or are not U.S. citizens or because of their immigration status or type of employment authorization | U.S. citizens, noncitizen nationals, permanent residents, asylees, and refugees | All employers with more than 3 employees are covered. |
National origin | Employers must not discriminate with respect to hiring, firing, recruitment or referral for a fee against individuals based on their place of birth, country of origin, ancestry, native language, or accent or because they are perceived as looking or sounding "foreign" | All employment-authorized individuals | IER covers small employers with more than 3 but less than 15 employees. EEOC covers larger employers. EEOC also covers all aspects of employment, including terms and conditions of employment. |
Document abuse | Employers must not
| All employment-authorized individuals | All employers with more than 3 employees are covered. |
Retaliation/Intimidation | Employers must not intimidate, threaten, coerce, or retaliate against a person because that person:
| All employment-authorized individuals | All employers with more than three employees are covered. |
Employers who discriminate against employees may be penalized by the federal government.
