In a new enforcement action against GM, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division emphasizes that employers subject to export control obligations must still comply with federal laws against discrimination on the basis of immigration status, national origin, or citizenship.
Guidance accompanying the enforcement action indicates that the DOJ has expectations of companies in their hiring processes that may create challenges for efforts to comply with export control regulations that protect sensitive goods, software, and technology.
05.16.23
On April 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement agreement with GM to resolve allegations that the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The DOJ found that the company’s employment eligibility verification process violated U.S. law in part due to overbroad attempts to comply with export control laws. Specifically, the DOJ found that:
During onboarding, GM required non-U.S. citizens who were lawful U.S. permanent residents, and who therefore are “U.S. persons” for export control purposes, to provide an unexpired foreign passport as a condition of employment, imposing a discriminatory barrier in the hiring process; and GM improperly combined its I-9 process to verify permission to work in the United States with its export compliance assessment, which required non-U.S. citizens to provide specific documents that were not strictly necessary to prove their permission to work.
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