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Comment by saagarjha | Hacker News Reader

Source? I do not see any exemptions offered in the Civil Rights Act. If you're a citizen, I don't see how anyone can legally discriminate against you.

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Carve-outs exist:

(e) Businesses or enterprises with personnel qualified on basis of religion, sex, or national origin; educational institutions with personnel of particular religion

Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, (1) it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and employ employees ... on the basis of his religion, sex, or national origin in those certain instances where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise ...

(g) National security

Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire and employ any individual for any position, for an employer to discharge any individual from any position, or for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer any individual for employment in any position, or for a labor organization to fail or refuse to refer any individual for employment in any position, if-

(1) the occupancy of such position, or access to the premises in or upon which any part of the duties of such position is performed or is to be performed, is subject to any requirement imposed in the interest of the national security of the United States under any security program in effect pursuant to or administered under any statute of the United States or any Executive order of the President; and

(2) such individual has not fulfilled or has ceased to fulfill that requirement.

Thanks for the context.

It looks like the job required a security clearance, so they can deny you access based on a number of things. I've known people born and raised in the USA who were denied clearance to work on specific projects because they happened to be friends with foreign nationals outside of work.

Sure, but those things aren't a protected class AFAIK.

ITAR law. The company can't discriminate in hiring for reasons of national origin alone, but a US citizen doesn't automatically stop being a citizen of another country, and ITAR prohibits letting foreign citizens touch some sensitive missile tech secrets.

... and then an employer can refrain from hiring someone because ITAR prevents them from doing the relevant job.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324b

Paragraph 2, Section C

According to the article, this person is a dual citizen. You generally won't be granted a security clearance in the US unless you renounce your citizenship in the other country (generally, there are exceptions).

According to Chinese nationality law, dual citizenship is impossible for people who naturalize under another country. As a matter of law to the Chinese government, they would lose their Chinese citizenship automatically, to be enforced any time the issue comes up, such as for passport renewal or getting visas to visit under a foreign passport.

His lawyer said he has Chinese citizenship

> “The government’s argument that Mr. Zhang poses a flight risk because he is a Chinese citizen is insufficient to warrant GPS monitoring,” Olmos said in a filing

EDIT: wrong person, confused Zhang and Chen. Zhang is a Chinese citizen, Chen is the one accused of stealing classified material

Apparently, the US naturalization process allows prior citizenship to be kept:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/dual-citizenship-all...

Section 703(g)

See: https://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/national_security_exemption...

I think they do it through their secret/top secret clearances. You just don't get them and aren't eligible to work on a project. And they don't tell you why, of course.

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