HR Management & Compliance

New York City gets tough unemployment discrimination law

Over the veto of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City will soon have what’s being called the nation’s toughest law against discrimination based on a job applicant’s employment status. The city council passed the law on March 13 despite Bloomberg’s veto. It will take effect in mid-June.

Currently, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., have laws against job advertisements that require applicants to be employed. New York City’s law goes a step further and allows applicants to file a complaint with the city’s Commission on Human Rights (CHR) or file suit if they believe they were rejected because of their unemployed status. Also, the law allows employers to inquire about an applicant’s employment status only if they have a job-related reason for doing so.

The law requires all employers to adhere to the advertisement guidelines. The part of the law relating to hiring decisions applies to employers with at least four employees. Employers that fail to comply with an order from the CHR face civil penalties, and persons found to have willfully violated an order will be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

In his veto message, Bloomberg said his administration shares the council’s concern over the plight of people who are unemployed because of circumstances beyond their control, but he called the new law a “misguided attempt” that is likely to backfire.

“Allowing employers to inquire about a prospective employee’s unemployment only if they have a ‘substantially job[-]related’ reason for doing so introduces a subjective standard and provides insufficient guidance for employers to engage in a hiring process without running afoul of the law,” Bloomberg wrote. He also criticized the law because applicants need only show that the employer’s hiring practice has a disparate impact on the unemployed.

“Because it is reasonable to assume that employers throughout the City more often hire the employed than the unemployed, employers may be justifiably concerned about facing a litany of lawsuits claiming discrimination—lawsuits that after incurring significant expense may ultimately be dismissed,” Bloomberg said.

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