Employers who rely on H-1B visa holders, other temporary workers, or who sponsor green card holders should make sure that their employment practices comply fully with a little-known provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA): Section 1324b. Otherwise, they may find themselves in the crosshairs of the Justice Department, the Labor Department, plaintiffs’ lawyers, or all three.

A recent court decision and the accompanying $14 million settlement between Facebook and the Justice and Labor Departments involving alleged H-1B visa and green card practices exemplifies these risks.

Citizenship-Status Discrimination Under the INA

President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986. IRCA was a quintessential congressional compromise. It established employer sanctions for hiring unauthorized immigrants, ushering in today’s Form I-9 verification system. It also legalized many immigrants who then were present in the U.S. without authorization.

IRCA also established 8 U.S.C. § 1324b. Section 1324b created a new kind of prohibition under the INA: employers cannot discriminate in hiring, firing, or recruitment against protected workers because of their “...

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