Thu, Feb 24, 2011
Employment Discrimination and the Hiring Process: Legal Gray Area? We Think Not.
Posted by Patrick Manzo
A contentious debate has surfaced recently over allegations that some employers may be discriminating against job seekers based on current employment status. Such employment discrimination, if it occurs, is likely a product of popular sentiment that those with a job are more qualified than those without, and an attempt to manage the volume of unemployed individuals applying for a given position.
Last week’s EEOC hearing brought the debate in sharp focus and outraged job seekers have hit the Internet in protest. We’re on the side of the job seeker.
Monster has strict guidelines prohibiting discrimination on the basis of, for example, race, sexual orientation, religion or gender in a job posting. If we identify a posting that violates these guidelines, we work with that company to immediately address the issue.
But discrimination based on employment status falls into a legal gray area. Regardless of whether this type of discrimination is legal or not, however, it is certainly unwise.
There’s a very practical reason to oppose this practice – it’s not good business. Success in today’s market requires hiring the best talent. Period.
Many of those laid off in the recent recession are victims of structural changes in our economy; they are not out of work because of any lack of skill or diligence. Systematically excluding this group of candidates is arbitrary and potentially leaves a significant portion of the talent pool out of the running.
It will be interesting to see the response from the EEOC on this issue and whether formal policies will be put in place to address this problem.
As the labor market continues to improve, employers owe it to their shareholders to identify and cultivate the best talent and remove obstacles for qualified candidates to join the workforce once again.
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3 Responses to “Employment Discrimination and the Hiring Process: Legal Gray Area? We Think Not.”
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- - 24. Feb, 2011
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February 24, 2011 at 10:39 AM
The issue of excluding unemployed candidates from applicant pools is an interesting one. The expert testimony during last weeks’ EEOC hearing provided some arguments on the impact such policies may have on women, racial and ethnic minorities, and individuals with disabilities. There was also some testimony on how widespread this practice is – Christine Norton, of NELP, indicated that excluding unemployed applicants is rampant, while James Urban, of Jones Day, believes that the examples in media reports are isolated incidents when considering the broader picture.
The Proactive Employer Podcast is discussing this issue on tomorrow’s broadcast. For more information on the podcast and what will be discussed, please visit blog.thomasecon.com
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February 26, 2011 at 12:35 PM
its true a lot of these employers do not want you if you have been out of work a lot time, and if you are a older worker, they won’t hire you, and for get everything if your a black man. So where does that leave a lot of people, no hope, no future, the U.S. will be the war zone of the future.
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