Company Fined for Discriminating Against US Citizens

Recently an employer was fined for recruiting practices that the federal government found discriminated against US citizens and favored foreign workers. The Department of Justice recently announced that a Pittsburgh computer consulting company iGate Mastech Inc. will pay $45,000 in civil penalties to settle allegations that for a month in 2006 iGate placed 30 job announcements for computer programmers that expressly favored H-1B visa holders to the exclusion of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and other legal U.S. workers. Such preference constituted citizenship status discrimination which is prohibited by the federal immigration law called the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Justice Department’s action resulted from a complaint filed by the Programmers Guild, an advocacy group for US technology workers. The settlement also requires the company to train its recruitment personnel and to post a nondiscrimination statement on its Web site. The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) in the Civil Rights Division conducted the investigation in this matter. It will continue to monitor iGate. OSC is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which protect U.S. citizens and certain work-authorized individuals from employment discrimination based on citizenship or immigration status. The INA also protects all work-authorized individuals from national origin discrimination, unfair documentary practices relating to the employment eligibility verification process, and from retaliation. This is a reminder to employers that recruiting practices must be neutral and must not discriminate against anyone based on citizenship status. Workers are protected both by federal employment laws and immigration laws. For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, call 1-800-255-7688 (OSC’s worker hotline) (1-800-237-2525, TDD for hearing impaired), 1-800-255-8255 (OSC’s employer hotline) (1-800-362-2735, TDD for hearing impaired), or 202-616-5594. Email osccrt@usdoj.gov, or visit the Web site at http://www.usdoj/gov/crt/osc. For information about employer training on these and other legal issues, see Kim Ryan's training website at www.KimRyansWorkingWellness.com. For information about employment discrimination and harassment, see The Ryan Law Firm's website at www.lawyers.com/ryanfirm.

Finding a Pregnancy Discrimination Attorney

Kimberlie Ryan was quoted in The Wall Street Journal in Sue Shellenbarger's "Work and Family Mailbox" column in June, which addressed pregnancy discrimination. Article available at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121375074768482891.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

New Law Protects Workers from Genetic Discrimination

The President recently signed into law the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) that will protect Americans against discrimination based on their genetic information when it comes to health insurance and employment.

The bill had passed the Senate unanimously and the House by a vote of 414 to 1. The long-awaited measure, which has been debated in Congress for 13 years, will pave the way for people to take full advantage of the promise of personalized medicine without fear of discrimination. Many Americans have been reluctant to take advantage of new breakthroughs in genetic testing for fear that the results will not be used to improve their health but rather to deny them jobs or health insurance. They feared "genetic discrimination."

Early Example of Genetic Discrimination

In 2001 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled the first lawsuit alleging this type of discrimination. The EEOC filed a suit against the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad for secretly testing its employees for a rare genetic condition that causes carpal tunnel syndrome as one of its many symptoms. Besides testing for possible carpal tunnel genes, company-paid doctors also were instructed to screen for several other medical conditions such as diabetes and alcoholism. Burlington employees examined by company doctors were not told that they were being genetically tested.

According to the lawsuit, one employee who refused testing was threatened with possible termination. On behalf of Burlington employees, EEOC argued that the tests were unlawful under the Americans With Disabilities Act because they were not job-related, and that any condition of employment based on such tests would be cause for illegal discrimination based on disability. The lawsuit was settled favorably by the EEOC. But the Americans With Disabilities Act was limited in its protection of workers.

Timeframe for New Law

GINA sets forth specific practices that are prohibited, along with new remedies and legal claims for workers. In general, the law limits the kind of information that can be gathered, as well as prohibiting discrimination against workers based on their genetic information. The health insurance protections offered by GINA are expected to roll out in 12 months, whereas the employment protections will be fully realized in 18 months. The new law is somewhat complex, so expect to see employer training information released over the next several months.

For a fact sheet on GINA from the National Institutes of Health, see http://www.genome.gov/10002328

For more information on employment discrimination or Kimberlie Ryan, see www.lawyers.com/ryanfirm

For 9News interview of Kimberlie Ryan discussing this topic, see http://www.9news.com/life/programming/shows/mornings/article.aspx?storyid=93320&catid=229