Unemployedworkers.org reports that discriminatory practices that bar unemployed workers from consideration for jobs are the subject of a new inquiry launched this week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  Responding to reports of what EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien called "the emerging practice of excluding unemployed persons from applicant pools," the EEOC convened a public meeting Wednesday to hear testimony on the issue from employment experts and worker advocates.

The practice of employers, recruiters and staffing firms discriminating against unemployed job-seekers in the hiring process is an issue brought to light at Unemployedworkers.org with the help of outraged jobless workers who have contacted us to describe their own experiences.

Testifying at the session, Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and a member of the Unemployedworkers.org team, said that practices barring the unemployed from job availabilities have been growing around the country — and place a disproportionate burden on older workers, African Americans, and other workers facing high levels of long-term unemployment.

“There is a disturbing and growing trend among employers and staffing firms to refuse to even consider the unemployed for available job openings, regardless of their qualifications,” said Owens. “  Excluding unemployed workers from employment opportunities is unfair to workers, bad for the economy, and potentially violates basic civil rights protections because of the disparate impact on older workers, workers of color, women and others. At a time when we should be doing whatever we can to open up job opportunities, it is profoundly disturbing to see deliberate exclusion of the jobless from work opportunities. The National Employment Law Project commends the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for examining this issue,” she said.

Owens and other witnesses presented numerous examples of job postings and recruitment advertisements explicitly excluding people due to their status or duration of unemployment.  Helen Norton, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law, detailed how employers and staffing agencies have publicly advertised jobs in a wide variety of fields - ranging from electronic engineers to restaurant and grocery managers to mortgage underwriters - with the explicit restriction that only currently employed candidates will be considered. 

Read the Full Story at Unemployedworkers.org