The federal Department of Justice (DOJ) has officially filed a lawsuit against California-based spaceflight company SpaceX for alleged “routine, widespread, and longstanding” discriminatory hiring practices.
According to the DOJ’s lawsuit, SpaceX explicitly discouraged people without US citizenship or permanent residency visas (green cards) from applying to work for the company. Furthermore, the DOJ accuses the company of refusing to consider or hire these people, regardless of whether they had appropriate visas. If this is proven to be true, SpaceX may have spent years violating the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Breaking Down the SpaceX Immigrant Discrimination Lawsuit
The DOJ lawsuit cites statements made by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk as evidence of the company’s discriminatory policies. For example, one post made on Musk’s website X, formerly known as Twitter, states, “US law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are considered advanced weapons technology.” In another post, Musk claims, “SpaceX was told repeatedly that hiring anyone who was not a permanent resident of the United States would violate international arms trafficking law, which would be a criminal offense.”
While there are laws that restrict who may work with “advanced weapon technologies,” such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), these only apply in certain circumstances. They do restrict certain companies from hiring people who do not have the equivalent of US permanent residency or citizenship. However, Musk’s statements demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of what that means.
Critically, anyone who enters the US on an asylee or refugee visa receives the right to live and work in the US indefinitely and are considered “US persons” for hiring purposes. In other words, they are equivalent to citizens and permanent residents for hiring purposes. Furthermore, the DOJ specifically states that companies may hire anyone they like as long as they “obtain authorization to release covered technology to employees who are not U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, asylees, or refugees.”
Why the DOJ Chose to Sue SpaceX for Discriminatory Hiring Practices
Of course, no company is obligated to hire someone just because they are an asylee or refugee. The DOJ’s lawsuit is because SpaceX allegedly failed to hire a single refugee between September 2018 and May 2022 and only hired one asylee out of 10,000 hirings in that time frame. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that the SpaceX hiring system explicitly marked applicants without a green card or citizenship with rejection codes such as “does not meet basic qualifications.”
If this is the case, the company explicitly discriminated against these qualified workers based on their place of birth or national origin group. Both of these characteristics are protected under INA. Even if the company’s leadership genuinely believed it could not hire certain workers, ignorance of the law is not a defense; it still violated asylees’ and refugees’ civil rights by refusing to hire them. As a result, SpaceX could be ordered to pay significant civil penalties for discriminatory hiring practices, to hire qualified candidates who were unjustly rejected for their visa status, and to give these candidates back pay backdated to their rejection date.
SpaceX is far from alone in discriminating against workers for their national origins. Many other companies in California and around the country routinely discriminate against workers because they are not US citizens. Let’s break down how hiring discrimination against immigrants occurs and what you can do if you believe you have faced discriminatory hiring practices.
What Constitutes Hiring Discrimination Against Immigrants?
Employment discrimination because of a person’s protected characteristics is always unlawful. However, discrimination is sometimes difficult to spot, particularly during the hiring process. That’s why it’s crucial to understand your rights as well as what discriminatory practices may look like.
Anti-discrimination laws apply to everyone in the US, regardless of citizenship status. As long as you work in the US, you have the right to the same protections as a US citizen. While an employer can turn you down if you do not have an appropriate work visa, they cannot discriminate against you because you aren’t a permanent resident, and if you are hired, they must treat you like any other employee.
So, what does anti-immigrant hiring discrimination look like? It can take many forms, including:
- Falsely claiming that applicants must have their green card or citizenship to work, such as SpaceX did in its job postings.
- Filtering applicants that do not have residency or a green card from further consideration, like SpaceX allegedly did.
- Repeatedly choosing US citizens over better-qualified immigrant applicants.
- Offering immigrant applicants less pay, fewer benefits, or worse positions than their peers with equivalent qualifications.
If you experience any of these issues while applying for a position, the company may use discriminatory hiring practices.
Fighting Back Against Unjust Hiring Practices
Proving hiring discrimination is often more complicated than other discriminatory practices. Companies often receive hundreds of applications for a role when they only need to hire one person. This makes it difficult to prove that the choice was discriminatory. However, it is possible to prove hiring discrimination with the help of an experienced employment lawyer.
If you believe you have experienced hiring discrimination because of your status as an immigrant, you can reach out to the expert attorneys at the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman, P.C. We can help you:
- Determine if you have a hiring discrimination case
- Collect evidence that the company has discriminatory practices, such as biased job postings or a trend of refusing to hire immigrants
- Hold discriminatory companies accountable for their actions in court
We have won nearly $1 billion for victims of discrimination like you. Get in touch with our California employment law firm today to discuss your case and start fighting back against workplace discrimination.
