Employee Rights

Employers must treat you in a non-discriminatory way, including when recruiting, hiring, firing, and verifying your identity and authorization to work using Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification or E-Verify.

Your employer may not:

• Ask for specific documents because of your national origin, ethnicity, immigration or citizenship status, race, color, religion, age, sex, disability, or genetic information, or because of any other protected characteristic. For example, your employer may not:
  • Ask for a document issued by the Department of Homeland Security because you are not a U.S. citizen.
  • Ask for a U.S. passport to prove you are a U.S. citizen.
• Refuse to accept your document or refuse to hire you because of an unfounded suspicion that your documentation is fraudulent. For example, your employer may not refuse to accept your identification and unrestricted Social Security card because you have limited English proficiency.
• Treat you differently than other applicants because you have, or your employer believes you have, a particular citizenship or immigration status.
• Ask to see documents showing your permission to work before hiring you, or before you complete Section 1 of Form I-9.
• Refuse to accept your document or refuse to hire you because your document expires in the future.
• Limit jobs to U.S. citizens unless U.S. citizenship is required by law or government contract.
• Ask you for a specific document when reverifying that you are authorized to work. You may present any documentation either from List A or from List C of the Lists of Acceptable Documents to demonstrate that you are still authorized to work.
• Retaliate against you. For example, employers cannot fire you, decrease your pay, or otherwise try to punish you for:
  • Contacting the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, or the Equal Opportunity Commission for assistance or to file a complaint.
  • Complaining about discrimination or otherwise asserting your or another’s rights.
  • Participating in an investigation or lawsuit on behalf of an alleged victim.

Your employer must:

• Provide you with the entire Form I-9, including Instructions for completing the Form and the Lists of Acceptable Documents.
• Accept your documentation if it reasonably appears to be genuine and to relate to you.
• Allow you the choice of what documentation to provide. For example, your employer cannot ask you for a U.S. passport or a Green Card.
• Comply with the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision.

If you feel your employer did not hire you, treated you differently during the hiring or Form I-9 process, or terminated you because of your national origin, or immigration or citizenship status, call IER at 800-255-7688 (Worker Hotline) or 800-237-2515 (TTY), or visit IER’s website.

You may also contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) if you feel you have been discriminated against in employment based on your race, color, religion, and national origin or any other protected bases (sex (including pregnancy), age (40 and over), disability, and genetic information). Call 800-669-4000, 800-669-6820 (TTY), or 844-234-5122 (ASL Video Phone) or visit the EEOC website.