Espinoza v. Farah Manufacturing Co., Inc., 414 U.S. 86 (1973) (Supreme Court of the United States)
Espinoza v. Farah Manufacturing Co.
Does an employer's refusal to hire a job applicant solely because she is not a United States citizen constitute discrimination "because of … national origin" under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Title VII prohibits employment discrimination because of an individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The term "national origin" refers to the country where a person was born or from which his or her ancestors came; it does not, standing alone, encompass citizenship or alienage status. An employer's citizenship requirement does not violate Title VII per se, but it is unlawful if it is a pretext for discrimination on the basis of national origin or if applied in a manner that intentionally discriminates against individuals of a particular national origin.
No. Refusing to hire a noncitizen solely because of lack of United States citizenship is not discrimination "because of … national origin" within the meaning of Title VII. On the record, Farah's uniformly applied citizenship requirement did not violate Title VII.
Espinoza is the leading case establishing that Title VII's national origin protection does not, by itself, prohibit private employers from considering citizenship status. It underscores statutory interpretation grounded in text and legislative history and clarifies the limits of administrative deference. For practice, Espinoza sets two key guideposts: (1) citizenship requirements are not per se unlawful under Title VII; and (2) they become unlawful when used as a pretext for national origin discrimination or applied in a way that intentionally disfavors a particular national origin group. The case also situates Title VII alongside other legal regimes—later, Congress addressed certain citizenship and immigration-status discrimination in IRCA (8 U.S.C. § 1324b), while constitutional constraints (e.g., Equal Protection) limit government employers, not private ones.