IMMIGRATION DISCRIMINATION - CIVIL RIGHTS LAW

Immigration Discrimination

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices ("OSC") investigates charges of job discrimination related to an individual's immigration status or national origin.

The three categories of discrimination are:

1) Citizenship status discrimination--when individuals are rejected for employment or fired because they are or are not U.S. citizens or because of their immigration status or type of work authorization. U.S. citizens, permanent residents, temporary residents, asylees and refugees are protected from citizenship status discrimination.

2) National origin discrimination--when individuals are rejected for employment or fired based on their place of birth, country of origin, ancestry, native language, accent or because they are perceived as looking or sounding "foreign." All work authorized individuals are protected from national origin discrimination. OSC has this jurisdiction over smaller employers, not covered by the EEOC.

3) Document abuse discrimination--when employers 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. All work authorized individuals are protected from document abuse.