On November 19, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new technical assistance document and updated its national origin discrimination information and resources web page with a focus on anti-American national origin bias. These changes highlight the EEOC’s focus on enforcing civil rights protections related to national origin, ensuring fair application across the workforce, and addressing unlawful bias against American workers.
The technical assistance document, “Discrimination Against American Citizens Is Against the Law,” summarizes Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s protections against discrimination based on national origin and provides examples of discrimination against Americans in the workplace. The examples include:
- Discriminatory job advertisements, such as ads stating preferences for applicants from a particular country or with a particular visa status, such as “H-1B preferred” or “H-1B only.”
- Disparate treatment, which includes terminating American workers “benched” between assignments at higher rates than visa holders or creating barriers for applicants of certain national origins.
- Harassment, such as unwelcome remarks or conduct based on national origin.
- Retaliation against individuals who object to discrimination, participate in EEOC investigations or file an EEOC charge.
The document also clarifies that customer preference, lower labor costs, and assumptions that certain national origin groups are “more productive” do not justify hiring foreign workers over American workers.
In addition to the technical assistance document, the EEOC updated its “National Origin Discrimination” resource page to demonstrate what unlawful national origin discrimination can look like in the workplace and how individuals can act if they believe their rights have been violated. The updates reflect much of the technical assistance document and add an example of pay discrimination where visa workers are paid less than comparable American employees.
CUPA-HR will continue to update members on relevant EEOC guidance and regulations.