How to Avoid Discriminatory Hiring Practices

By David Wolinsky

| Monday, Sep 12, 2011 | Updated 4:35 PM CDT

View Comments (

)

How to Avoid Discriminatory Hiring Practices

We're in the midst of snake-has-swallowed-its-own-tail time.

The recession's in full effect, and nobody's hiring because there are no jobs. It's made for a hirer's market, which could inadvertently put bosses in a position to accidentally engage in illegal or unfair hiring practices. For example, a lot of people have lost their jobs, but it's potentially discrimination to not hire someone simply because they're unemployed. (Unfair though that may be, it isn't illegal... yet.)

The always fantastic chicagoemploymentattorneysblog.com has three handy tips in a recent post to assure your hiring's on the up and up:

Use criminal and credit background history carefully. Only perform this check if convictions or credit histories are directly related to the job.

Perform Internet searches consistently. If you want to Google or Facebook prospective employees, do so for all applicants. Only searching female applicants, or applicants with African-American sounding names, is discriminatory.

Get your attorney's help. The hiring process can be complex and full of pitfalls for unsuspecting employers. Even if you do not have a discriminatory motive, your hiring policies may still violate equal employment laws.

You can read the full post here.

Related Topics Hiring, Legal Advice, Pro Bono

Leave Comments