An NADA Compliance Alert

What's new:  On November 19, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new educational materials to raise awareness of national origin discrimination in the workplace.

The guidance explains that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits discrimination against employees and job applicants based on the individual's national origin. National origin discrimination involves treating workers unfavorably or favorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world. The EEOC emphasizes that this discrimination can include preferring foreign workers with a particular visa status, over American workers.

The EEOC also highlights that the following considerations do not justify national origin discrimination:

• Customer or client preference;
• Lower cost of labor (whether due to "under the table" payment, or abuse of certain visa-holder wage requirement rules);
• Beliefs that workers from one or more national origin groups are "more productive" or possess a better work ethic than another national origin group.

Why it matters:  The new guidance demonstrates that the EEOC's increased focus on "rigorously enforcing existing - but sometimes under-enforced - labor and employment law." According to the EEOC, "Unlawful bias against American workers, in violation of Title VII, is a large-scale problem in multiple industries nationwide." The automotive industry in recent months has received increasing attention because of lawsuits and federal enforcement of employment and immigration law. The US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has also demonstrated increased enforcement in this area.

What's next: NADA will continue to update dealers about the new guidance and enforcement priorities of the EEOC. Dealers can review the EEOC's guidance here.