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Hiring

Bias against unemployed now illegal in New Jersey

05/27/2011
Gov. Chris Christie has signed a bill barring discrimination against the unemployed, making it illegal for New Jersey employers to refuse to hire applicants just because they are not currently working. Violators face fines of up to $1,000 for a first offense and $5,000 for subsequent offenses.

OK to consider stable work history when hiring

05/27/2011
A lot of factors go into hiring the best possible candidate for a job, including experience, education and employment stability. Those are all legitimate reasons to prefer one candidate over another.

Philadelphia limits questions on criminal records

05/27/2011
Effective July 12, 2011, Philadelphia employers with 10 or more employees will be limited in their ability to inquire about job applicants’ criminal records. Under the Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance, employers must treat inquiries into criminal convictions much the same way they must treat inquiries into an applicant’s disability under the ADA.

Age bias requires showing substantial age difference

05/27/2011
The ADEA protects workers age 40 or older from discrimination based on their age. But winning an ADEA case doesn’t require an employee to prove that the employer gave preferential treatment to someone younger than 40. She just has to show that the favored employee was “substantially” younger than the older employee.

Tales from the front lines …

05/27/2011
Mexican food is great, but is it art? A cook sued his former em­­ployer, a Mexican restaurant, for un­­paid overtime. The owners put forth a creative defense: that the cook was exempt from the FLSA overtime requirements because he was a “creative professional.”

Can you ask applicants to ‘audition’ via voice-mail?

05/24/2011
It’s a hot hiring trend for sales positions and other jobs that call for great verbal skills: Asking job applicants to leave a voice-mail message in which they make their best pitch. Advocates say it’s an effective way to tell right away who has potential — and quickly weed out duds. But is it legal?

McDonald’s event sought 50,000 new hires in 1 day

05/24/2011
Fast-food mega-giant McDonald’s wanted to hire 50,000 employees in April—so it hosted a national, one-day “event” at which franchise managers all over the country met and interviewed candidates. The massive onboarding will increase employment by 7% at the company and its 14,000 restaurants nationwide.

John Muir Health settles EEOC ‘latex bias’ charges

05/20/2011
John Muir Health agreed to settle bias charges brought by the EEOC, claim­ing the East Bay hospital system dis­­criminated against job applicants ­perceived to have latex allergies.

What will you decide: keep or drop employee health benefits?

05/20/2011
Most employers are not considering canceling health benefits as a result of the year-old health care reform law, according to two recent surveys. The Affordable Care Act may be politically unpopular, but employers assume that it will be a business fact of life for the foreseeable future.

Special analysis: No-match letters are back (don’t panic)

05/20/2011
The Social Security Administration has resumed sending employers letters regarding mismatches of em­ployees’ names and Social Security numbers. Since employee name/SSN matches are critical to payroll administration, you’re right to be concerned. But there seems to be some confusion over these letters.