Is "Must Be Currently Employed" Discriminatory in Employment Ads?
The answer depends on which side of the fence you are on. If you are one of the 10 million unemployed , you will say yes, and rightly so. Because of the masses of people not working, if you are working, it is hard to have empathy because it is not your problem. But to many, being qualified for a job and face the: Must be employed, recently employed condition, it is another blow to your hope. The other blows are: credit checks, internet social media checks, criminal checks, former employers etc. If you are the 99s (out of work for 99 weeks) the despair is real. Even if you are only a few months unemployed, the impact is the same.
It is legal so far. There is no law against requiring someone to be recently employed or currently employed. Businesses do it to weed out the hundreds of resumes and applications for a handful of jobs paying maybe $10 hr. People with college degrees or masters, people that are highly skilled in some way.
On July 12, Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Henry Johnson, Jr. (D-Ga.) introduced the Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011. The legislation, if enacted, would prohibit employers and employment agencies from refusing to consider job applicants solely because they are unemployed.
Currently, only New Jersey makes it a civil crime to discriminate against unemployed persons with requiring applicants being currently employed.
I think there should be such a law. It is hard enough to get a job without this sort of discrimination.