The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has alleged Texas-based technology sector employment agency Sibitalent Corp. engaged in national origin bias via recruiting practices by openly preferring to hire only H-1B visa holders, per a lawsuit filed Sept. 30.
A Sibitalent recruiter allegedly contacted a California-based job seeker regarding a data analyst role with the phrase “ONLY H1B” attached to the email, according to the complaint filed in the Northern District Court of California.
The job in question was for a Sibitalent client, so the job seeker could only apply through a referral. When the charging party questioned whether it was legal to restrict the job opportunity to H-1B visa holders, the recruiter simply said, “Yeah.”
When the job seeker asked for more information, the recruiter stopped responding. The firm allegedly referred candidates from India and Nepal instead, according to an EEOC press release.
EEOC alleges that Sibitalent’s conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. HR Dive reached out to Sibitalent for comment and did not hear back by the time of publication.
National origin discrimination has become a central focus for the current iteration of the EEOC.
Last year, the agency issued a technical assistance document outlining how anti-American bias violates Title VII. At the time, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas expressed her belief that national origin bias against Americans was a widespread issue across multiple industries. “Many employers have policies and practices preferring illegal aliens, migrant workers, or non-immigrant guest workers (guest worker visa holders) over American workers — in direct violation of federal employment law,” Lucas said in a statement at the time.
She went on to add, “Nothing justifies illegal national origin discrimination — whether rooted in cost of labor, customer preferences, or stereotypes.”
Just last month, Lucas posted videos to X and LinkedIn soliciting anti-American bias charges. Lucas gave examples of national origin discrimination such as being laid off and told to train an H-1B visa or other guest worker visa holder who replaced them.
She also gave examples of individuals being excluded from conversations not taking place in English, or bosses directing certain employees of “one foreign national origin to serve customers with that same background.”
Regarding the Sibitalent case, Lucas said in a statement last week, “Employers and employment agencies cannot shut qualified Americans out of job opportunities by using unjustified visa requirements as a proxy for national origin discrimination.” She reiterated that her federal agency will “vigorously enforce” the law to protect American workers from this kind of discrimination.
EEOC San Francisco District Director Christopher Green echoed this sentiment, saying the agency wants to enforce Title VII in a way where “American applicants can compete for jobs on a level field.”