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Unemployed Need Not Apply?

Here's how to fight back if you're denied a job because you're jobless

by: Diana Cadrain, from: AARP, July 17, 2012

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Legislative action

In Washington and many state capitals, sympathetic legislators are trying to outlaw this kind of discrimination.

In Congress, at least three pending bills would ban job ads that rule out unemployed applicants. The underlying practice of hiring only the currently employed would also be against the law.

Among the states, New Jersey was the first to enact a law. In June last year, the state began banning these kinds of ads (but not the hiring practice itself). The District of Columbia has enacted legislation that bars both the ads and the hiring practice. And Oregon has a new law outlawing the discriminatory ads.

A New Jersey company is facing a $1,000 fine for advertising only for employed applicants for a position of service manager, according to Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes, sponsor of the law that went into force last year.

Other states in which legislators are considering similar measures include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin.

Diane Cadrain is a Connecticut-based attorney and freelance journalist who writes about employment issues.

What to Do If You Experience Discrimination

To date, declining to hire unemployed people is illegal only in the District of Columbia. In New Jersey and Oregon, it's illegal for employers to run advertisements that discriminate against the unemployed. If you've run into these kinds of practices in your own job search, here are six responses suggested by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group:

1. Apply for the job anyway, stating your qualifications.

2. If you've been screened out, document actions the employer took that appear to discriminate against you because you are unemployed — such as language in the job posting or verbal advice from recruiters or placement agencies.

3. Write a letter of complaint to the company's CEO or human resources director. The company may reconsider.

4. File a complaint with the employment website that posted the ad. At least one major employment website has adopted a policy that it will no longer carry such ads.

5. Consider filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or your state's employment discrimination agency. The EEOC is studying whether the practice may have a harsher than average effect on specific groups of workers, which could make it illegal under existing laws.

6. Lend your support to passage of legislation to prohibit the practice.

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