California, as well as the nation as a whole, in is the midst of
very trying times. Unemployment is high;
qualified and experienced men and women everywhere are finding it hard to find
work. Some have been out of the
workforce for so long, they are finding it difficult to get back in.
State and federal legislators
are taking action to combat this problem.
There is a movement by both California
and the federal government to make being unemployed a new protected class. And with a higher-than-normal percentage of
potential voters out of work, politicians seeking re-election this year will
surely attempt drum up support for this proposed legislation.
In California, legislation has been introduced
to protect unemployed workers, and thus prohibit an employer from using a
person’s unemployed status at the time of applying for a job as a negative
criteria in the hiring process. This
bill, AB 1450, was introduced a few months ago in January. Similar to the California bill, Congress has introduced HR
2501 in the House and S 1471; these two bills would provide similar protections
to workers on a nationwide level.
Currently, most protected
status complaints and lawsuits deal with harassment and termination of the
employment relationship; lawsuits based on failure to hire are generally
rare. Yet if either of these bills are
passed, employers can expect an uptick in litigation by unemployed applicants
who apply for positions and are not hired, especially if those applicants
appear to be otherwise qualified.
Employers would be wise to consider altering their hiring practices, and
provide some additional training to those making the decision to hire new
employees in order to avoid problems down the road. And while these proposed bills are not yet
the law, given the state of California
and the country’s economic woes, and the fact that this is an election year,
employers could very soon have another thing to worry about.
