New EEOC Guidance Aligns With DOL's H-1B 'Project Firewall,' Stresses Foreign Worker Preferences Can Be A Form Of 'National Origin' Discrimination

Related links

• EEOC Press Release: New and Updated Educational Materials on National Origin Discrimination (11.19.25)
• EEOC National Origin Discrimination Landing Page
• EEOC Technical Assistance Document: "Discrimination Against American Workers Is Against the Law"

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released updated educational materials on national origin discrimination on Nov. 19, 2025, in response to the Department of Labor's launch of its "Project Firewall" H-1B visa enforcement initiative.

While not promulgating any new policies, this latest guidance emphasizes what EEOC sees as anti-American bias in employment practices, aligning closely with Project Firewall's objective of prioritizing U.S. workers through the lens of reinforcing employers' legal obligation to ensure fair treatment for all workers. It stresses that national origin discrimination, prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, can include preferring foreign workers, including visa holders, over American workers.

To clarify these protections, EEOC updated its national origin discrimination landing page with more resources, including access to a new one-page technical assistance document, "Discrimination Against American Workers Is Against the Law."

While such discrimination, regardless of the foreign worker's national origin, has been unlawful prior to this guidance, EEOC's efforts now further highlight potential specific discriminatory practices against Americans in the workplace. The EEOC guidance provides examples of potentially discriminatory practices, including:

• Discriminatory job advertisements preferring or requiring applicants from a particular country or with a particular visa status (for instance, "H-1B preferred" or "H-1B only").
• Disparate treatment of U.S. workers versus visa employees regarding terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, firing, job assignments, compensation, training, fringe benefits, promotion, and demotion.
• Harassment of U.S. workers based on national origin.
• Retaliation by an employer because a U.S. worker has engaged in protected activity under Title VII, such as objecting to or opposing national origin discrimination at work, participating in employer or EEOC investigations, or filing an EEOC charge.

Again, this new guidance does not announce any new specific policy. It does represent, however, a potential and significant shift in enforcement away from general national origin worker discrimination (both foreign and U.S.) toward a more singular focus on U.S. worker discrimination.

The new guidance further emphasizes that business considerations (such as customer preference, lower cost of labor, or beliefs about productivity) do not justify an employer's decision to hire foreign workers over American workers.

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