Boulder is not one of the largest cities in the United States, but it is plenty diverse. In some industries, people born outside the United States make up a substantial portion of the workforce, or even a majority. As long as these workers have legal authorization to work in the United States, employers can and should welcome them. They should not discriminate against them based on their citizenship status. It is also against the law for employers to discriminate against United States citizens who got their U.S. citizenship through naturalization instead of being born in the U.S. You might be experiencing national origin discrimination if your employer treats employees whose roots are in certain countries better than they treat employees from your country of origin.
Whether your employer singles out one nationality for mistreatment or exclusion or treats the workplace like a social club for people from a particular country or region while leaving others out, employment laws protect you from this type of unfair treatment. The Boulder national origin discrimination lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you if your employer has been treating you unfairly because of your country of citizenship or the country where you are born.
How is National Origin Different From Other Protected Characteristics?
It is against the law for protected characteristics to be the basis on which an employer behaves negatively toward an employee. The legal term for an employer’s negative behavior toward an employee is adverse actions. Employers have the right to take adverse actions against employees because of an employee’s poor performance, lack of necessary job qualifications, or misconduct. The following are examples of adverse actions recognized by employment laws:
- Refusal to hire
- Refusal to make reasonable accommodations for an employee or job seeker with a disability
- Excessive scrutiny of the employee’s work
- Negative performance reviews
- Changing the employee’s work schedule, work location, or duties on the employer’s initiative and without the employee requesting the change
- Bullying or harassment, known as a hostile work environment in legal terms
- Denial of promotions or raises for which the employee has applied
- Reduction of pay
- Termination of employment
- Giving negative recommendations for former employees when they apply to new jobs after they stop working for the employer
Employers do not have the right to take adverse actions against employees or job seekers based on a protected characteristic of the employee or job seeker. A protected characteristic is a personal characteristic of the employee, unrelated to his or her work. For example, race, religion, and sex are protected characteristics, and so are age, marital status, sexual orientation, and disability. Federal and state employment laws also recognize ethnic background and national origin as protected characteristics. The Boulder national origin discrimination lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you if your national origin is the reason that your employer has treated you less well than they have treated other employees, or even if national origin discrimination is only one of several protected characteristics based on which your employer has discriminated against you.
Can Employers Refuse to Hire or Promote You Just Because You are Not a United States Citizen?
The employment laws are clear about whether employers can exclude you based on the country where you were born. In almost every case, the answer is a resounding no. There is only one job where being born in the United States is a job requirement, and that is being President of the United States. Naturalized U.S. citizens can hold any other position, including being elected to public office. They can get the highest security clearances in federal jobs and hold the highest military ranks in the United States Armed Forces, in addition to working for state and local government entities and in the private sector.
In fact, the vast majority of jobs do not require you to be a U.S. citizen at all. You are eligible for the job as long as you have an immigration status that enables you to work legally in the United States. In other words, you can work if you have a green card, an employer-sponsored visa, or a work permit issued alongside an immigration category that does not automatically include work authorization. It is a good idea to consult an employment lawyer or immigration lawyer before you apply for work if your adjustment of status case is pending, meaning that you are trying to change from your previous visa category to a green card based on employer sponsorship or on marriage to a U.S. citizen.
National origin discrimination is illegal whether it happens to naturalized citizens or to citizens of other countries who are living and working legally in the United States. Your employer’s actions could count as national origin discrimination even if the coworkers treating you in a discriminatory manner are not originally from the U.S., and even if they are from the same country as you are.
How to Exercise Your Rights if You Experience National Origin Discrimination at Work
You can prevail in a national origin discrimination claim if you can prove that your national origin is the reason that your employer took an adverse action against you. In some discrimination claims, employees cite multiple protected characteristics based on which they have experienced discrimination. For example, your coworkers might discriminate against you based on your race, gender, and national origin, or on your religion and national origin, for example.
No matter the specifics, you must initiate an investigation through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before you can file an employment discrimination lawsuit in court. After you file an initial complaint, the EEOC will investigate your workplace. If it is able to corroborate your claims, it will grant you permission to proceed with the lawsuit.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, About National Origin Discrimination
The Boulder employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can counsel you about national origin discrimination claims. Contact the employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in Boulder, Colorado, to set up a consultation.
