National Origin Discrimination
Devika
6 Posts
We are a private organization. We are not a government employer but our main office is inside a federal facility, where security is run by a federal department.
To bring someone in for an interview, we have to ask their country of citizenship. This is required. If we don't, security will not let them in and the interview and employment become physically impossible. There is no way around this. Iraqis and North Koreans need not apply.
For candidates who are not US citizens, who are offered positions, a background check has to be run. To complete this, depending on the candidates citizenship, it can take up to 6 weeks to get someone cleared to start work. This changes with the current terrorism warning level, so when we changed to orange last week things got harder.
So, here is my question. U.S. citizenship is not a job requirement but it sure makes things easier. Given the above situation, do you think we should just rule out non-U.S. citizens, or should we try to make some accomodation for qualified non-US citizens? By not making some accomodation, if they are indeed the best candidate, aren't we discriminating based on national origin?
To bring someone in for an interview, we have to ask their country of citizenship. This is required. If we don't, security will not let them in and the interview and employment become physically impossible. There is no way around this. Iraqis and North Koreans need not apply.
For candidates who are not US citizens, who are offered positions, a background check has to be run. To complete this, depending on the candidates citizenship, it can take up to 6 weeks to get someone cleared to start work. This changes with the current terrorism warning level, so when we changed to orange last week things got harder.
So, here is my question. U.S. citizenship is not a job requirement but it sure makes things easier. Given the above situation, do you think we should just rule out non-U.S. citizens, or should we try to make some accomodation for qualified non-US citizens? By not making some accomodation, if they are indeed the best candidate, aren't we discriminating based on national origin?
Comments
The time that security takes to run a security clearance on a non-U.S. citizen is broken down by country of citizenship and it varies from time to time depending on the level of security. Right now I could hire a US citizen and she could start in a couple days. If we hire a Japanese or Brazilian, we can get her cleared in about ten days. If we hire a Chinese or Israeli, we can get her cleared in about 30 days.
This presents hiring managers with the opportunity to tell me that they don't want to waste their time interviewing a candidate because of her citizenship, or offering a position to a candidate because of her citizenship. Because US citizenship is not a job requirement, these decisions would be made based on a matter of convenience; it's more convenient to hire a US citizen than a Canadian and it's easier to hire a Nigerian than a Russian, regardless of skills, qualifications, or visa status.
In general, we don't violate laws out of convenience. We don't turn away the disabled, women, or minorities because it might be mildly inconvenient to hire them. Do you think it is reasonable to reject a candidate because his or her citizenship, which is usually very closely related to national origin, presents a mild inconvenience? If you do believe that it is reasonable, would you tell the candidate the reason for your decision, perhaps telling the Chinese candidate that she was the best candidate but you chose another candidate because she was South Korean?
The non-discrimination laws in this country provide that an employer CANNOT discriminate on basis of national origin. The person, of course, must have the legal right to work in this country.
Good Luck!