The EEOC Looks At Job Discrimination Against Unemployed

By Susie Madrak  | February 22, 2011

 

It's about time someone in this administration noticed. Now what are they going to do about it?

As the Fed updated its forecast last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission held a forum on discrimination against unemployed job seekers. Members of Congress had urged the commission to explore the issue, after reading press reports of numerous instances in which employers and staffing agencies refused to consider the unemployed for openings.

The message — “the unemployed need not apply” — has at times been explicitly stated in job announcements. In other cases, unemployed job seekers have reported verbal rejections after a recruiter or employer learned they were not currently working.

One of the questions for the E.E.O.C. is whether excluding unemployed applicants is illegal. Jobless workers are not specifically protected by antidiscrimination laws, but various laws outlaw hiring bias on the basis of sex, race, national origin, religion, age and disability. Since African-Americans, older workers — especially older women — and disabled workers have been hit particularly hard in the downturn, discriminating against unemployed people in those groups may violate the law.

Take African-American workers. They make up 12 percent of the work force, but 20 percent of the unemployed. Even college-educated black Americans are far more likely than their white peers to be unemployed.

Another question for the E.E.O.C. is whether it is acceptable for employers to use current employment as a proxy for relevant experience, or as an expedient to screen applicants. Testimony at the forum by Helen Norton, associate professor at the University of Colorado Law School, rebutted those and other possible justifications. Current employment is not relevant to jobs that provide on-the-job training. And even for jobs that require up-to-date skills, an interview or a test would be a more accurate and less discriminatory way to evaluate a candidate’s qualifications.

Simply excluding unemployed workers also excludes candidates who may have been employed until recently as well as those who have used a period of unemployment to receive additional training or education.

When Unemployed Equals Untouchable

(It wasn't bad enough, they just thought they could make it worse, and look, they did! Thanks for the link, Rob.--jef)

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Feb 16 2011 - by Teresa Novellino

In the caste system of career seekers looking for jobs during this economic downturn, employers are deeming the unemployed as untouchable, worker advocates say.

The reported screening-out of applicants without jobs could lead to discrimination against women and minorities during one of the worst job markets in recent memory, those testifying at an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hearing today said.

And while companies may not specifically have a policy to exclude the unemployed and may informally use employment status in hiring, that allegation, if true, would be of much interest to the EEOC, which enforces federal antidiscrimination laws.

Unemployment data showed that the jobless rate among blacks was 15.7 percent and that it was 11.9 percent for Hispanics, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Among whites, the rate was 8 percent, and the overall rate is 9 percent.

Several examples of discriminatory help-wanted ads were presented at the hearing including an online ad from a Texas electronics company claiming it would "not consider/review anyone NOT currently employed regardless of the reason." A separate ad for a restaurant manager position in New Jersey said that applicants must be employed, the Los Angeles Times reported.

As the unemployed struggle to find work, there has also been a rise in the business of employing temporary workers. According to figures from one remote-staffing firm, oDesk, the number of employers hiring contractors on an ongoing basis rose 800 percent over the past three years.
U.S. employers review nine applicants for every two available jobs, William E. Spriggs, assistant secretary of Labor for policy, said at the hearing.

That is slightly better than in June, when unemployment stood at 9.5 percent and there were five job seekers for every posted job, a figure that does not really reflect how many candidates there actually were per job, since the unemployed or others could be applying to multiple jobs.

Even experienced executives looking for jobs have had a difficult search if they are out of work and are having to find ways to market themselves.

Fox News sued over reporter's bias charges

Lawsuit claims Fox News retaliated against reporter who complained of age, sex discrimination
SAM HANANEL
AP News - Sep 30, 2010

Federal authorities are suing the Fox News Network for allegedly retaliating against a reporter after she complained about unequal pay and job conditions based on her gender and age.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Fox News Channel reporter Catherine Herridge filed an internal complaint about allegedly discriminatory practices in 2007.

Fox found no evidence of bias, but the EEOC says the network later included language in Herridge's employment contract intended to stop her from making any more complaints.

Herridge refused to sign the contract. The network agreed to remove the language after she complained to the EEOC.

The EEOC seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order enjoining Fox from retaliating against other employees.