Dirty Little Secret

Hi Everyone:

Did you know that it is still legal in New York state and other states to discriminate against a certain group of people? Not only is it legal, but companies do it all the time. The discrimination is even blatantly written in their ads for job openings online and in newspapers.

What is the discrimination I am talking about and what group of people is affected? Companies blatantly discriminate against unemployed workers. Workers who, through no fault of their own are laid off and then get discriminated against. How do companies discriminate against the unemployed? All you have to do is read help wanted ads. There they are in black and white stating, "Must be currently employed to apply." It amazes me that companies would want to eliminate an entire group of people. It also amazes me that this is legal.

But wait, New Jersey has a new law that makes discriminating against the unemployed illegal. New York state is in the process of looking into the situation and determining if a new law is needed. Oh come on! It doesn't take a genius to figure out that discriminating against anyone is wrong. But it is a double whammy for unemployed people to not be able to get a job interview because they are unemployed. That makes no sense, what-so-ever.

When I was a corporate Human Resouces executive, I prided myself in hiring unemployed people. They had more fire in their belly to do the job as best as possible. If their background and experience fit the job description and they were the best candidate, they were hired. Case closed.

Obviously, common sense dictates that discriminating against the unemployed is wrong and even stupid. I believe that a federal law should be enacted under Title VII, that includes the unemployed.

To all of you fathers, Happy Father's Day.

Til next week.

Peter