Unemployed need not apply: EEOC hears testimony

[Newsjock]

Source: Seattle Times

As if finding work weren't hard enough, a federal agency warns that some employers are excluding jobless workers from consideration for openings.

People testified before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Wednesday about what some said is a growing trend of employers refusing to consider hiring the unemployed.

... "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," Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, testified.

... Owens said that under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, it was illegal for employers to use practices that "limit, segregate or classify" individuals in ways that limited or denied employment opportunities based on race, gender, color, religion, ethnicity or age. Practices that seem nondiscriminatory could violate these laws if they have a disparate impact on members of these protected classes.

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014248693_jobless17.html