On September 21, 2023, the Justice Department announced a settlement with United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) following the department’s determination that UPS violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against a lawful permanent resident.
Under the INA, employers cannot discriminate against employees based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin at any stage of the hiring process. Similarly, employers cannot retaliate against an individual for asserting their rights under the law. The department’s investigation revealed that UPS discriminated and retaliated against a lawful permanent resident in its airport badging process at their Logan Airport facility in Boston, Massachusetts by rejecting documentation provided by the worker to receive an airport badge and refusing to submit a badge application to the relevant airport authority. Without the airport badge, it was impossible for the worker to complete certain job duties. The department also uncovered that UPS retaliated against the worker by firing him after he complained to UPS about the discrimination and that this UPS facility had a policy or practice of rejecting valid documentation that some non-U.S. citizens show to obtain an airport badge, such as Machine Readable Immigrant Visas (MRIVs) with an I-551 stamp.
Under the settlement, UPS will pay nearly $100,000 in back pay, front pay, and associated benefits to the affected worker. UPS must also pay a civil penalty to the United States, train UPS staff on the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, revise its policies and procedures, and be subject to monitoring by the department.
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