News of the Day November 21, 2025
EEOC Hints at 2026 Priorities with National Origin Bias Guidance

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published a technical assistance document Wednesday laying out how anti-American bias — a form of national origin discrimination — can run afoul of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“The EEOC is here to protect all workers from unlawful national origin discrimination — including American workers,” Chair Andrea Lucas said in a statement. “Unlawful bias against American workers, in violation of Title VII, is a large-scale problem in multiple industries nationwide.”

The guidance informs workers that national origin bias can involve what EEOC calls discriminatory job postings, such as those that say “H-1B preferred” or “H-1B only,” harassment and retaliation.

National origin discrimination also can take the form of disparate treatment, such as “terminating American workers who are on the ‘bench’ between job assignments at a much higher rate than employees who are visa guest workers.” Disparate treatment also extends to hiring and compensation, workplace training, fringe benefits, and promotion or demotion, EEOC said.

The document also warns against using common business reasons to “justify national origin discrimination,” such as customer or client preference, lower cost of labor or “beliefs that workers from one or more national origin groups are ‘more productive’ or possess a better work ethic than another national origin group.”

“Nothing justifies illegal national origin discrimination — whether rooted in cost of labor, customer preferences, or stereotypes,” Lucas said in the EEOC statement.

Along with releasing the new Title VII guidance, EEOC updated its landing page on national origin discrimination. The goal, the agency said, is to educate employees and employers on “what unlawful national origin discrimination can look like in the workplace and how individuals can act if they believe their rights have been violated.”