Help/Comment!!! Employment eligibility

CS485

Registered Users (C)
One of a major hi-tech corp in USA rejected my application for employment saying that they cannot hire me as I cannot work indefinitely in USA.

I went thru all the interview process and now they are saying that they cannot hire me and the only reason being I am on EAD.

I am contacting my attorney regarding this issue.


Is it legal to deny the employment for the people with EAD. I thought people on EAD are not eligilble only for the jobs which require security clearance.

Thanks

I opened the same thread in CSC forum too.

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=761112#post761112
 
The I-9 is the employment verification document. It clearly states on very top:

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION NOTICE: It is illegal to discriminate against work eligible individuals.
Employers CANNOT specify which document(s) they will accept from an employee. The refusal to hire an
individual because of a future expiration date may also constitute illegal discrimination.



So you can do something about it- I don't know what/how- as employer may say-they had different grounds for not hiring- unless they specifically told you that- verbal is OK in court.

HTH
 
You know how corporate America is...need I say anything.

If you have anything in writing that clearly says that they cannot hire you since you have an EAD, then you could definitely initiate legal action. But make sure that the job does not say up front that applicant should be PR/Citizen.

But if everything's verbal and you don't have that recorded (remember recording without the consent of the other party may be illegal) then your chances of winning a legal case are very slim given that they will prove in court that they rejected you for some other reason.

My 2 cents.
 
Thanks for your postings.

The job requirement doesnt mention that the applicant must be a PR/citizen. This corp sponsered lot of H1's earlier. All the communication is thru emails and I saved them.

sb_tiger, special thanks to you for that point.
 
Aah .. interesting!

They were expecting that you are eligible to work INDEFINITELY in the US, but did they tell you that they were also committed to employ you INDEFINITELY? :D :D :D
 
Did they verbally or in writing tell you that they don't want to hire you because you were on EAD. If that is the case you can certainly make a fuss. To begin with you must tell them- that is illegal to discriminate. If you want to sue talk to an attorney. If it is a big compnay lawyers would be interested.
HTH
 
Why don't you wait until you get the offer then tell them you are on EAD? After you get the offer, they just cannot reject you based on you only have EAD.
 
I was asked about my immigration status after the interviews (before the final formalities). I do have everything in writing (in emails). I saved them (in multiple places :) ). In my emails, I mentioned multiple times that, I am legally authorized to work in USA and I can produce the required proofs.
Is it better to contact immigration attorneys or employment attorneys?
Anyway, I am going to talk to Employment attorneys tomorrow (found attorney directory @ www.nela.org ).

sb_tiger, its a very big hi-tech company with hq in santa clara,ca.
 
Originally posted by CS485
One of a major hi-tech corp in USA rejected my application for employment saying that they cannot hire me as I cannot work indefinitely in USA.

I went thru all the interview process and now they are saying that they cannot hire me and the only reason being I am on EAD.

I am contacting my attorney regarding this issue.


Is it legal to deny the employment for the people with EAD. I thought people on EAD are not eligilble only for the jobs which require security clearance.

Thanks

I opened the same thread in CSC forum too.

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=761112#post761112

Regardless of the actual situation and the fact that you might have something to litigate, I think this might be blowing in the wind. As Cinta said, your chances of winning a case like this are slim to none. At the very best, you would be involved in a prolonged legal battle that might result in some restitution and being hired by the company that just spent $$$ fighting you in court?! It would not make for a very pleasant work environment, I can tell you that.

So... unless you are dying to work for these guys, look elsewhere. The cases against governmental and semi governmental (subcontractors, I assume) would be even tougher to prove. The only recourse is a... class action lawsuit, in other words, figure out if there additional people that are in your position and get a probono attorney and you are off to the races. I can tell you that there would not be an overwhelming amount of public sympathy for a case like this and that it would shift the skewed opinions about foreign labor even more... That is why this has probably never been done before... it would be interesting to know if someone has attempted it...
 
CS485,

As I mentioned before that I was also denied employment by a semi government (defence) company. The reason they gave me is, they want someone who can legally stay here indefinitely, AOS stage or working on EAD does not allow that. They had some employees who were forced to leave the country because of some issues with their GCs. Thereafter, they changed their corporate policy to hire only Citizens or GC holders. They even don't hire people with H1.

And after that also countless times I was told that I can not be considered for jobs because I do not have GC or US citizenship. Many people told me to contact them after getting the GC.

This is a fact.
 
I don't know if this was true in your case but most big employers make you fill out a job application even before they interview you. That application has a section about Employment eligibility. I have recently noticed that it mentions something like "Are you authorized to work in United States indefinitely". I believe, If you are on EAD and say "yes", you're misleading the employer.
 
Re: Re: Help/Comment!!! Employment eligibility

Originally posted by Milko_Djurovski
Regardless of the actual situation and the fact that you might have something to litigate, I think this might be blowing in the wind. As Cinta said, your chances of winning a case like this are slim to none. At the very best, you would be involved in a prolonged legal battle that might result in some restitution and being hired by the company that just spent $$$ fighting you in court?! It would not make for a very pleasant work environment, I can tell you that.

So... unless you are dying to work for these guys, look elsewhere. The cases against governmental and semi governmental (subcontractors, I assume) would be even tougher to prove. The only recourse is a... class action lawsuit, in other words, figure out if there additional people that are in your position and get a probono attorney and you are off to the races. I can tell you that there would not be an overwhelming amount of public sympathy for a case like this and that it would shift the skewed opinions about foreign labor even more... That is why this has probably never been done before... it would be interesting to know if someone has attempted it...

Hello,
I did not say anything yet!
Why doesn't he name the company, the ad for recruiting, the state, the corporate policy, the job description, the place for the job duties, his country of origin (relevant), etc...
There are a thousand prons and cons and what to do, if anything about it. There are LPR/Citizenship requirements, Export Control regulations (EAD does not free you from that), Sensitive technologies, Country of Origin and the TAL list and so on...................
 
Re: Re: Re: Help/Comment!!! Employment eligibility

Originally posted by cinta
Hello,
I did not say anything yet!
Why doesn't he name the company, the ad for recruiting, the state, the corporate policy, the job description, the place for the job duties, his country of origin (relevant), etc...
There are a thousand prons and cons and what to do, if anything about it. There are LPR/Citizenship requirements, Export Control regulations (EAD does not free you from that), Sensitive technologies, Country of Origin and the TAL list and so on...................

Meant to say Mavishka...

:)
 
Hi,

I think you cannot take action on the company based on rejecting your application on EAD.

I was also on the same boat two years back and I contacted an atty and as per atty and US laws there are certain conditions and EAD/VISA do not fall under the category for discrimination or Equal opportunity employment.

The clauses are :
Discrmination/Equal opportunity clauses are age, sex, religion, colour , national origin ,handicap , race etc;. If they had told you that since you are an Indian they cannot hire you then you can take action on them.
 
The refusal to hire an individual because of a future expiration date may also constitute illegal discrimination -> is also an discrmination.
HTH
 
Hi SB-tiger,


Many companies in their website mention that VISA holders need not apply and now many have started mentioning that GC holders need not apply even if Security clearance is not required.

I do not think we can take action on those companies based on work discrimination.


I have gone thru this whole process last year and the atty clearly told that the case is very weak.
 
These kinds of things may be difficult to prove in court. Some companies do H1s some others don't. Some work with EADs some want GC and some other want citizen. And some other want security clearence. Some good lawyer has to take it up.

{ Some categories of security clearences are available also to H1s}.

But if it can be proved a job requirement is frivolous or discrimnatory- you have a case. The EOE etc address some. The I-9 also clearly sates-The refusal to hire an individual because of a future expiration date may also constitute illegal discrimination. This applies to EAD.
Yes the newest thing question the companies are asking is- "Do you have indefinite work authorization?". My answer to them is- "Yes. I have EAD- that I can automatically extend on my own."

HTH
 
Update

I contacted Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc/ and I was told that its illegal to discriminate based on EAD and asking for GC. As long as the job is not related to any government contracts(needing security clearance), I should be eligible and they cannot quote "not authorized to work indefinitely" as a reason to deny the employment. I was asked to file a complaint and they said they will contact employer on behalf of me. At the same time, I am still trying to contact Labor Attorneys. I contacted couple of lawyers but they have no idea about EAD. I hope I can find someone who knows immigration laws too.

Thanks
 
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