by Toni Everton

An increasing number of unsuccessful job applicants are filing discrimination charges, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and state enforcement agencies are taking a close look at job applications for evidence of unlawful bias. So the question is, what can you ask on a job application? This article doesn’t contain an all-inclusive list of what to ask on a job application; rather, it provides guidance on a couple of issues the EEOC and state enforcement agencies have recently questioned.  read more…

No law specifically says employers are prohibited from discriminating against job applicants who have been out of work for months or even years. The long-term unemployed don’t have protections spelled out in any antidiscrimination laws – or do they?

When jobseekers are part of a protected class that has a disproportionate number of people unemployed, they can begin to wonder if they’re stuck in unemployment because of their race, age, gender, disability, or some other characteristic protected under discrimination laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been wondering the same thing. read more…

It has been said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That certainly applies to the following case involving the employment application of a biological female who identifies as a male. While the scenario might be somewhat unusual, the legal issue is one that has been around for decades: Can you discriminate on the basis of a protected classification of which you are unaware?

Who are you?

The Minneapolis facility of United Parcel Service (UPS) hires approximately 40 of the 200 to 300 applicants who seek a part-time package-handling job every month. Each applicant must complete the online job application and tour a sorting facility to observe the heavy physical work required of the job before he is given an interview. Because of the high turnover rate, interviews last only 10 to 15 minutes and focus mostly on whether the applicant is likely to stay with the company. Afterward, the interviewer codes the candidate’s application as “ready for a second interview” or “rejected” for specific established reasons (e.g., “poor interview responses” or “poor job history”). The company’s electronic records system allows only one code to be entered, even if more than one might apply. read more…

In August, U.S. combat troops left Iraq, and President Barack Obama has said the military will start pulling troops from Afghanistan in July 2011. With this steady stream of military veterans coming back, inevitably some will end up in your application pools. Previously, we have discussed why hiring veterans makes sense. Now, the U.S. Department of Labor has released the Veterans Hiring Toolkit to help employers through the process of hiring veterans.

“Many employers have told us that they are interested in developing or enhancing a veterans hiring initiative for their company, but that they don’t know where to begin,” Assistant Secretary for the DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service Ray Jefferson said in a press release announcing the launch of the toolkit. “This toolkit was created with these employers in mind. It’s designed to simplify the process and put valuable, vetted resources at the employer’s fingertips.”

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