It is against federal and California law for an employer to discriminate against you based on your actual or perceived national origin. If you are discriminated against based on your national origin, you can file a lawsuit against your employer for damages and equitable remedies (including being rehired or promoted).
Below, our Los Angeles labor and employment law attorneys answer the following frequently-asked-questions about lawsuits for national origin discrimination against California workers:
- 1. Can an employer refuse to hire me because of where I was born?
- 2. What is national origin discrimination?
- 3. How do I know if I was discriminated against?
- 4. What if co-workers are harassing me?
- 5. How do I sue my employer?
- 6. What damages can I get?
- 7. Can I be fired for reporting discrimination or suing for it?
- Additional resources
National origin discrimination in employment is unlawful.
1. Can an employer refuse to hire me because of where I was born?
No. Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against you based on national origin.1 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also protects applicants and employees from employment discrimination based on national origin.2
Employers are prohibited from hiring only U.S. citizens except where required by
- law,
- regulation, or
- government contract.
In limited situations, an employer can require you to speak fluent English if English fluency is necessary to perform the job effectively.
2. What is national origin discrimination?
National origin discrimination occurs when your ethnic background is a “substantial motivating factor” in an employer taking an “adverse employment action” against you. Examples of “adverse employment actions” include:
- Refusing to hire you
- Refusing to promote you when merited
- Refusing to select you for a training program
- Demoting you
- Firing you
- Segregating you
- Paying you less
- Reducing your salary
- Denying you equal pay
- Denying you a promotion
- Denying you a reinstatement
- Denying you benefits
- Forcing you to quit
- Harassing you
- Assigning you different duties
- Discriminating against you in any way3
What national origin comprises
National origin is a broad term that refers to your place of birth or ethnic heritage. This includes:
- Ancestors
- Physical, cultural, or linguistic characteristics associated with a national origin group (including clothing, languages, and accents)
- Marriage to or association with a national origin group
- Tribal affiliation
- Membership with an organization that promotes the interests of a national origin group
- Participation in schools associated with a national origin group
- Attendance in churches, mosques, temples, or religious institutions associated with a national origin group
- Names associated with a national origin group4
3. How do I know if I was discriminated against?
Common signs of possible discrimination based on your national origin include:
- Improper questions based on your background
- Sudden changes in job performance reviews
- Exclusion from meetings and events
- Change in work duties or workload increases
- Reduced hours or reduced pay
- Different rule enforcement involving workers of different backgrounds
- Failing to put a stop to racism or ethnic jokes in the workplace
- Making fun of your accent or stereotypes about people from a certain country
- Failing to consider you if you have an ethnic-sounding name
Note that the laws against discrimination based on national origin also apply to your perceived national origin: It is not a defense to discrimination claims if the employer was wrong about where you are from.
4. What if co-workers are harassing me?
If your co-workers are harassing you based on your national origin, you may be able to sue your employer for workplace harassment if your employer behaved negligently. This generally means that your employer:
- needs to have known about the harassment and
- failed to take reasonable steps to prevent or stop the harassment.
Workplace harassment based on national origin has three elements:
- You experiencing unwelcome comments or conduct at work (workplace bullying);
- The harassment is based on your national origin or ethnicity; and
- The harassment is pervasive or severe enough to alter the conditions of employment and create a hostile work environment.5
Isolated incidents of teasing, tasteless jokes, or insensitive remarks generally do not rise to the level of workplace harassment. Instead, the offending behavior must generally happen frequently or be extremely abusive in nature.
5. How do I sue my employer?
You generally have to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) or the federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) before you can sue your employer for national origin discrimination.6
You can request an immediate “right to sue” notice, without having to go through a complete CRD or EEOC investigation.7 However, proceeding directly to court without an investigation is only advisable if you have an attorney.8
The vast majority of lawsuits settle without going to trial. However, having an attorney is usually necessary to negotiate a favorable settlement, especially since your employer will no doubt have an aggressive legal team with the aim of paying you as little as possible.
6. What damages can I get?
If you sue your employer for national original discrimination, you may be able to recover such money damages as:
- Back pay (with interest)
- Front pay
- Higher income from a promotion
- Higher income from a raise
- Benefits
- Pension benefits
- Bonus payments
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Attorney’s fees
- Court costs
- Punitive damages9
If you have been fired based on your national origin, the court can require your employer to rehire you. However, when you have been harassed or discriminated against, you may not necessarily want to return to that hostile workplace.
7. Can I be fired for reporting discrimination or suing for it?
Your employer may not in any way retaliate against you for reporting discrimination against yourself or another employee.10 Nor can you be retaliated against for filing a workplace discrimination or harassment lawsuit. If you were fired for exercising your legal rights, you can bring a wrongful termination lawsuit.11
Additional resources
For more information, refer to the following:
- National Origin Description – Overview by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
- National Original Discrimination – Discussion by the U.S. Department of Labor.
- Federal Protections Against National Origin Discrimination – Summary by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Back to Know Your Rights: Race, Ethnicity, or National Origin-Based Discrimination – Guide by the ACLU.
- National Origin – Discussion of employee protections by worker.gov.
Legal References:
- Fair Employment and Housing Act 12940 — Unlawful Practices. (“It is an unlawful employment practice, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification, or, except where based upon applicable security regulations established by the United States or the State of California: (a) For an employer, because of the race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status of any person, to refuse to hire or employ the person or to refuse to select the person for a training program leading to employment, or to bar or to discharge the person from employment or from a training program leading to employment, or to discriminate against the person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.”). See for example Rehmani v. Superior Court (Court of Appeal of California, Sixth Appellate District, 2012) 204 Cal. App. 4th 945; Jie v. Liang Tai Knitwear Co. (Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Three, 2001) 89 Cal. App. 4th 654. See also Acosta v. Nat’l Union of Healthcare Workers, Inc. (Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District, Division Five, 2023) A162448.
- Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, Section 703 — Unlawful Employment Practices.
- Fair Employment and Housing Act 12940, footnote 1 above. See also Harris v. City of Santa Monica (2013) 56 Cal.4th 203. The laws against national origin discrimination are not limited to employers, they also apply to unions and labor organizations, which are prohibited from excluding, expelling, or restricting membership to you based on national origin. National origin discrimination prohibitions also apply to apprenticeship training programs and employment agencies.
- California Code of Regulations 11027.1 — Definitions. (“(a) “National origin” includes but is not limited to, the individual’s or ancestors’ actual or perceived: (1) physical, cultural or linguistic characteristics associated with a national origin group; (2) marriage to or association with persons of a national origin group; (3) tribal affiliation; (4) membership in or association with an organization identified with or seeking to promote the interests of a national origin group; (5) attendance or participation in schools, churches, temples, mosques, or other religious institutions generally used by persons of a national origin group; and (6) name that is associated with a national origin group.”)
- Hughes v. Pair (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1035, 1042. (“To prevail on a hostile work environment claim under California’s FEHA, an employee must show that the harassing conduct was “severe enough or sufficiently pervasive to alter the conditions of employment and create a work environment that qualifies as hostile or abusive to employees.”)
- Fair Employment and Housing Act 12921.
- Fair Employment and Housing Act 12965.
- Id.
- Id.
- Government Code 12940 GC. The FEHA protects you if you are retaliated against for opposing workplace harassment, opposing national origin discrimination against other employees, reporting national origin discrimination or workplace harassment, or assisting with CRD investigations or government inquiries.
- California Code of Regulations (CCR) tit. 2, § 11021.