What are an immigrant’s employment rights?

In the U.S., there are federal laws that prohibit discrimination and harassment in the workplace. No employee should have to put up with ethnic slurs, hostile behavior or taunting due to his or her national origin. You cannot face discrimination due to an accent or because you speak another language in addition to English. You need to know your rights as an employee. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Title VII protects you against employment discrimination based on your national origin. Discrimination due to association If you associate with persons of any national origin group, your employee cannot use this against you. If an employer denies you employment, a promotion or discriminates against you for marrying a person of another national origin, for attending a school or church associated with a particularly nationality, this is discrimination. Discrimination due to place of birth A hostile work environment is never excusable. This is particularly true when the hostile work environment is due to your customs, language or national origin. You may even be the victim of discrimination if your employers or colleagues assume that you are of a different national origin and harass you about it. Discrimination due to accent Employers cannot discriminate against you due to your accent. Now, in some instances, if there is a language barrier or if the accent restricts communication in a job where communication is important, then an employer may be able to take the accent into consideration. However, when there is no interference with communication and the person is easy to understand in English, then an employer cannot use an accent as a determining factor.