District Judge Allows Alienage Discrimination Case To Proceed

A New York federal judge has refused to dismiss a putative class action alleging that Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company engaged in alienage discrimination when it rejected a Mexican-born applicant for an internship position because he was neither a U.S. citizen nor a legal permanent resident, even though he was legally authorized to work in the United States.

In July 2014, Ruben Juarez filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, individually and on behalf of similarly situated plaintiffs, alleging that he applied for a position at Northwestern Mutual and was rejected pursuant to a policy that denies employment to all persons who are not U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. District Judge Katherine Forrest found that Juarez had adequately alleged that the insurer had violated 42 U.S.C. § 1981, as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which bars discrimination based on race or alienage in the creation and enforcement