Venezuelan native David Rodriguez says Procter & Gamble rejected him from a paid internship because of his immigration status, despite being authorized to work in the United States, according to a lawsuit he filed Monday in Florida federal court.
Rodriguez, who moved to the United States when he was 10 years old, was authorized to work here under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which created a pathway in 2012 under the Obama administration for young immigrants to stay in the United States with work authorization and Social Security cards.
Rodriguez s lawyers are seeking class action status, arguing that the case could reflect a companywide policy that flouts federal law by not considering candidates who are legally allowed to work in the United States.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, along with attorneys from the labor and employment firm Outten & Golden, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Miami s Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin, the insurance firm, is also working on the case.
Procter & Gamble said Monday in a statement that its recruitment system focuses on people with long term work authorization in the United States. The company said that when the DACA authorization went into effect, that recruitment policy was not adjusted. Since, the application progress has been modified to allow for greater flexibility and the company has, and will continue to, consider individuals authorized to work under DACA for employment opportunities, according to the statement.
Since the 2012 DACA policy, this is the third such case filed by Outten & Golden and MALDEF over the issue of companies that have allegedly denied employment opportunities to immigrants authorized to work in the U.S. opportunities. One case is pending against Wells Fargo & Co. that claims the bank denied qualified applicants, including college students, loans because of their immigration status. The case filed in a California federal court seeks class action status. Northwestern Mutual settled a case in New York court over claims the bank blocked a college graduate from an internship.
The idea is to get them to stop these policies, said Outten & Golden s David Lopez, formerly a general counsel to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Immigration is a federal policy, a federal matter. These companies don t have the right to decide they can ignore workers authorized by the federal government.
Rodriguez, who graduated from Florida International University in 2014, said he had a nearly perfect grade point average, 3.96, and majored in finance with a minor in economics and accounting. He hoped to secure the internship with Ohio-based P&G to make connections or even land a full-time job with the company after graduation.