Bank of America Class Action Challenges Discriminatory Hiring Policies

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Bank of America Corp. has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing it of refusing to hire noncitizen job applicants, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

Plaintiff Daniel Marques, 27, is a citizen of Brazil and alleges BofA illegally discriminates against qualified applicants based on their immigration status.

“Specifically, Bank of America categorically denies employment contracts to applicants for a position as a financial advisor within the company if they are lawfully present noncitizens whose valid federal work authorization is subject to renewal after a future date of expiration,” Marques alleges in the Bank of America class action lawsuit.

“This facially discriminatory policy and/or practice constitutes intentional discrimination based on alienage and is unlawful under the Civil Rights Act of 1866,” the BofA class action lawsuit alleges.

Marques claims that he earned a degree in finance from Kean University College of Business and Public Management in New Jersey in 2013 and graduated with a 3.4 grade point average. According to the BofA class action lawsuit, he has been authorized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to work in the country through DACA.

DACA is a discretionary grant that allows certain immigrants brought to the United States as children to stay in the country. DACA recipients are able to obtain federal employment authorization to work in the United States. Deferred action for DACA recipients is valid for a period of two years and is renewable for additional two-year periods, the Bank of America class action lawsuit says.

Marques states that Bank of America uses a “facially discriminatory” policy that categorically denies the opportunity to enter employment contracts with immigrants who are noncitizens but who are authorized to work in the United States.

According to the BofA class action lawsuit, the bank also subjects noncitizen job applicants to additional requirements that are not imposed on job applicants who are U.S. citizens and rejects those who are unable to satisfy the requirements.

Marques says he was denied employment by BofA based on his noncitizen status even though he was authorized to work in the United States. On at least two occasions, he applied for employment with Bank of America, the BofA class action lawsuit says.

On the Employment Eligibility Questionnaire, he reported that he was able to present proper documentation about his employment eligibility upon the date of hire, that he was legally allowed to work in the United States, and that he did not and would not in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status.

He was contacted for an interview by a BofA representative. During the interview, he was reportedly told that, as a noncitizen applicant, he must be eligible to work in the United States “without limitations.” According to the BofA class action lawsuit, he was told that he was disqualified from further consideration for the position because of his status as a DACA recipient.

Marques filed the BofA discrimination class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and a proposed Class of noncitizens who are authorized to work in the United States who were denied employment with Bank of America under the company’s policies against hiring work-authorized noncitizens since April 4, 2016.

Marques is represented by Daniel Lyon and Helen Parsonage of Elliot Morgan Parsonage PLLC and Thomas Saenz, Nina Perales and Burth López of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The Bank of America DACA Hiring Class Action Lawsuit is Daniel Marques v. Bank of America Corp., Case No. 3:18-cv-00228, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.