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Brown: End discrimination against jobless and pass bill
By Karl Henkel
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Avon, on Wednesday called for the passage of a bill preventing employers from discriminating against jobless workers.
The Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011 could make it illegal for businesses to insert phrases such as “unemployed need not apply” or “must be currently employed” into job postings.
“Some employers think there’s something wrong with them [the unemployed],” Brown said. “That’s not fair.”
A July report by the National Employment Law Project reported an growing number of employers are using this tactic.
Equal-opportunity laws prohibit businesses from discriminating because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information or age, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The bill, originally introduced in the House in July, has gone untouched for more than two months.
If it becomes law, anyone discriminated against could file a complaint with the U.S. Secretary of Labor.
The company involved would then pay that person any civil-action winnings, according to the bill’s text.
Even if no compensation was denied, businesses could face a civil penalty of $1,000 per day.
Bert Cene, executive director at the Mahoning and Columbiana Training Association, said he hasn’t seen any instances of this discrimination in the Mahoning Valley.
Cene said employers who use the tactic are limiting their hiring options.
Brown said it’s impossible to calculate just how widespread the discrimination runs, but said, “If it’s on one website, it’s too extensive for me.”
About 14 million Americans are unemployed and nearly half of them for more than six months, according to NELP.
So far, employment-based discriminatory job postings can still be found on the most-popular job-seeking websites, such as CareerBuilder, Craigslist and Monster.
One site, Indeed.com, has banned job listings that discriminate against the unemployed.