The recession has hurt many Americans in the past couple years. Many people have been laid off due to cutbacks, recent college graduates have faced months of unemployment and many people are currently overqualified for the jobs they have.
The job market has taken a hit. Currently, more than 14 million Americans have been counted as officially unemployed, and almost half of those people have been out of work for over six months. Even more discouraging is that those numbers don’t include people who have given up looking for work and are most likely draining their savings or are now living as a dependent. The current unemployment rate at 9.2% and teetering and nationwide employers have only added 43,000 jobs over the last two months.
The job market has become an “employer’s market,” with a high supply of potential employees and a low demand for positions to fill. In such a volatile job market, each potential employee is scrutinized down to the letter on their resume; being fired from a position or a lack of references can send your resume straight to the trash bin. But who would have thought that your mere state of unemployment could keep you from getting employed? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?
Many companies have picked up on this new trend-discrimination against the unemployed, more than you would think. Even worse is that many companies have been blatantly advertising the discrimination, beginning last summer, when Sony Ericsson’s new Atlanta headquarters posted job opportunities stating “No Unemployed Candidates Considered At All.”
Unfortunately these employers are using the dated belief that an applicant is unemployed because they were the least qualified at their last job or that they deserved to be let go of. Nowadays, this is rarely the case. Many highly qualified employees have been laid off since the beginning of the recession. Another reason for unemployment is by choice. It’s not realistic in this day and age that a person stays with one company or even one industry their whole life.
As an experienced Rio Grande Valley employment law attorney I feel this kind of thinking is walking a fine line of employment discrimination. Luckily, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agrees and have done something about it. In response to the discrimination against the unemployed, the Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011 was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Bill is to help ensure that qualified candidates don’t get overlooked for a position due to their current employment status.
About the Author: Jeff Davis is the Owner of the Davis law firm and a highly experienced Rio Grande Valley employment law attorney. To find out more information about a Rio Grande Valley employment lawyer, please visit www.jeffdavislawfirm.com.