National origin refers to the country a person was born in or where their ancestors lived. National origin examples include Filipino, Mexican, Chinese, Nigerian, Indian, and American Indian, and all other national origins have equal access to employment.
The United States federal laws (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) prohibit discrimination based on a person’s national origin. These federal laws make it illegal to discriminate because of a person’s birthplace, ancestry, culture or linguistic characteristics (common to a specific group). This means people cannot be denied equal opportunity because they or their family are from another country, because they have a name or accent associated with a national origin group because they participate in certain customs associated with a national origin group, or because they are married to or associated with people of a certain national origin (1). The law prohibits national origin discrimination in employment decisions, including those involving recruitment, hiring, promotion, segregation, and firing or layoffs. The federal law also prohibits offensive conduct including ethnic slurs, that create a hostile work environment for the victims (2).
Additionally, the law requires employers to take appropriate steps to prevent and correct unlawful harassment (2). However, there is a growing concern that the national origin discrimination is largely unreported in the United States because victims of discrimination may not know their legal rights, they may be afraid to speak-up, and fearful of repercussions and retaliation from filing complaints or taking appropriate measures. According to the federal laws, filing national origin discrimination complaint is considered protected activity, and as such retaliation against victims for exercising their constitutional rights is illegal.
As a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, we are committed to working with our communities, stakeholders, and coalition members to educate, promote the protection of civil rights, provide leadership, as well as advocate to our law makers for effective policies that support equitable recruitment, retention and career progression to end and prevent national origin discrimination in the workplace. Our leadership platform and open forum invites you as an individual, institutions, public or private employers, and other like-minded non-profit organizations to come together (join us) to create and foster an inclusive society where everyone has an opportunity to pursue their dreams regardless of their place or country origin. We believe that moving forward, together, towards an inclusive society is paramount to finding effective solutions to the most pressing issues we face in the 21 st century.
References:
- https://www.justice.gov/crt/federal-protections-against-national-origin-discrimination-1
- https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-nator.cfm