Law Protecting Unemployed Limits Employers' Legitimate Hiring Practices

Over the past two years, several states have enacted employment laws that provide limited protection for unemployed job-seekers. In New Jersey, Oregon and the District of Columbia, employers are now barred from publishing ads that preclude unemployed individuals from applying for a job. Though limited in scope, these laws effectively open the door for applicants who may otherwise be excluded from employment searches solely due to their "unemployed" status. Civil lawsuits are precluded under these laws which provide for enforcement only through administrative remedies.

In an effort to more comprehensively protect unemployed job applicants, New York City will soon become the first jurisdiction in the United States to equate discrimination of unemployed job applicants alongside (and with the same discrimination protections and remedies provided to) all other protected classes which include an applicant’s age, race, creed, color, national origin, gender, disability, marital status, partnership status, sexual orientation, or alienage/citizenship status. The broad legislation, an amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL),¹ becomes effective on June 11 and will have wide-ranging impact and pose complicated, ambiguous difficulties on hiring processes conducted in New York City.