Punch line: Along with Obama’s Son-of-Stimulus comes a provision to prohibit discrimination based on a job applicant’s unemployment status … that is, whether they are currently unemployed or have had gaps in their work record.
Excerpted from Wash Post: “Bill to protect unemployed job applicants could hurt employers”
With no more pressing priority in Congress than creating jobs, the House and the Senate recently proposed near-identical versions of the Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011 to prohibit discrimination based on a job applicant’s unemployment status.
The proposals prohibit considering the present or past unemployment of employee candidates.
And, the proposals severely restrict an employer from inquiring into gaps in the work history of employee candidates — standard fare for any job interview.
Certainly, in a bad economy there are millions of Americans who are unemployed through no fault of their own.
But in good and even troubled economic times, long bouts of unemployment may bespeak a bad work ethic or some other improper behavior — a legitimate consideration for any employer.
Simply put, the potential unintended consequences of Congress’s proposal may exacerbate the disease that members of Congress so desperately seek to cure.
You just can’t make this stuff up …
The Homa Files 