Nonprofit HR’s Blog

The New York City Council passed a bill Wednesday that would ban businesses from discriminating against unemployed job applicants.

Arthur Delaney has the story.

“Job ads specifying that the unemployed need not apply first came to national attention in 2010. Staffing firms that have posted ads requiring applicants to be currently employed have told HuffPost that businesses consider people with jobs to be more desirable candidates than people without jobs.

‘The practice deepens the hardship of those struggling to return to the workforce, and exacerbates the crisis levels of long-term unemployment that New Yorkers — and Americans across the country — continue to face,’ Christine Owens, director of the National Employment Law Project, said in a statement.

A 2012 survey of hiring managers found that jobless candidates were viewed as less qualified even if they had the same resume as currently employed candidates. The problem may be especially bad for people out of work for long periods of time.

New Jersey and Oregon passed laws in recent years banning job ads that discourage the unemployed from sending in their resumes. And in 2011, President Barack Obama proposed banning discrimination against the jobless, but the measure stalled in Congress.”