Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Retaliation Claim Against Texas Company

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with InMotion Software LLC (InMotion), a software developer and recruiter in Texas, resolving the department’s investigation into whether the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision. 

Based on its investigation, the department concluded that InMotion retaliated against a work-authorized job applicant after she protested InMotion’s requirement that she provide a Permanent Resident Card even though she had a valid employment authorization card issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  After the worker complained that InMotion’s request constituted discrimination under the INA, InMotion removed her from its pool of candidates available for job placement.  The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from retaliating against or intimidating workers because they have opposed employer conduct that may violate that provision or have participated in the department’s activities to enforce it. 

Under the settlement agreement, InMotion will pay the maximum civil penalty for an instance of retaliation, post notices informing workers about their rights under the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, train its staff, and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements for one year.

“Employees must be able to assert their rights without fear of reprisal,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division.  “Employers should familiarize themselves with the law and ensure that they do not engage in retaliatory conduct against workers who raise concerns about compliance.”

The Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), formerly known as the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation. 

For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar; email IER@usdoj.gov; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites.

Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to retaliation, different documentary requirements based on their citizenship/immigration status or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship/immigration status, or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, should contact IER’s worker hotline for assistance.