Speakers at EEOC Meeting Say Ban on Unemployed Job Applicants Could Discriminate Illegally
Asked to comment today at a meeting of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a number of speakers said some employers’ practice of barring the unemployed from consideration for job openings could have an illegal discriminatory effect.
Such a policy could have a disparate impact, for example, on racial minorities or those with disabilities, among others, explains an EEOC press release about the meeting.
Among those affected by such policies excluding the unemployed from consideration are applicants for jobs as litigation associates, reports the Blog of Legal Times.
Law professor Helen Norton of the University of Colorado told the commission she found advertisements for associates imposing this ban and said in written testimony that “this practice raises questions and concerns under current antidiscrimination law that deserve attention.”
However, partner James Urban of Jones Day said he has not seen the unemployed barred from consideration for available positions, the BLT reports. Instead, “the reason the employer may decline to hire the applicant will be the underlying reason the applicant became unemployed, and typically it is job-related.”
