In their ongoing efforts to combat the practice of help wanted ads discriminating against the unemployed, three members of Congress and a Washington, D.C. advocacy group have targeted the Web site CareerBuilder.com.
Earlier this week, senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y) sent a letter to the company’s CEO asking him to stop the practice and the National Employment Law Project unveiled examples of ads posted on the site that offered opportunities only to those who had a job.
“Back to Work” wrote about this issue in July. In August, the three senators mentioned here introduced a bill that would make the practice illegal. The contents of that legislation are now included in Pres. Obama’s jobs bill.
The letter the congressmen sent Tuesday to CareerBuilder.com CEO Matt Ferguson begins like this:
We are writing to request that CareerBuilder prohibit companies from posting job opportunities that discriminate against potential applicants based on their employment status.
It lays out the following argument:
We have seen several job listings on CareerBuilder – many from our own states – that state applicants “must be currently employed” to apply for the open position. Although employers should have the right to staff according to their needs, preemptive discrimination not only harms those most in need of employment but can also arbitrarily deny employers with workers who are eager to contribute to the economy.
The letter mentions the legislation, and offers examples of real people who were frustrated in their searches for jobs by the “requirement” that they must already have one. It counters the possible rationale for such a practice:
It is unreasonable and unfair to assume struggling Americans lost their job because of their work ethics or performance when so many businesses are struggling from financial hardship.
Meanwhile, the National Employment Law Project identified five recent listings that stipulated job-seekers “must be currently employed.” Project Executive Director Christine Owens said in a statement:
Employers and firms continue to post ads that refuse to even consider the unemployed, regardless of their qualifications. It’s unfair to workers and bad for the economy. We need to be putting Americans back to work, not stigmatizing and prolonging their unemployment.
The Huffington Post contacted CareerBuilder.com about the complaints and got a bureaucratic response:
CareerBuilder strongly supports fair and equal hiring practices. Every segment of the workforce brings unique skills and value to the workplace. If you exclude any segment from your applicant pool, you are missing out on valuable talent that could benefit your organization. We encourage all of our customers to consider applicants of all backgrounds. We also are concerned about the number of unemployed people in the U.S. and are always looking for ways to help lower that number. We will continue to do this.
Similar job sites have had differing responses to the issue. Last month, Indeed. com agreed to stop the practice. But Monster.com says it is up to companies to decide how they carry out job searches, according to mediabistro.com.
Congress will likely have to continue facing the issue one way or the other: also last month, a petition urging lawmakers to oppose discrimination against the unemployed gathered 250,000 signatures.
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