What is Hiring Discrimination?

Employment discrimination is unlawful for a wide range of employees who are part of different “protected classes.” For example, an employer cannot discriminate against an employee on the basis of their race, sex, pregnancy, religion, disability, or age (if they are 40 or over). Discrimination can also take many different forms, ranging from changing an employee’s schedule or denying an accommodation to refusing to promote an employee or terminating an employee. Yet did you know that employers are also prohibited from discriminating against job applicants in the hiring process? To be sure, when you are applying for a job, you have the same rights as an employee concerning protections from discrimination.

So, what is hiring discrimination? It is a type of unlawful discrimination that harms job applicants during the hiring process. A Palm Beach Gardens employment discrimination lawyer at our firm can tell you more about hiring discrimination, and we can speak with you about filing a claim if you were harmed by hiring discrimination in a recent job application process.

Forms of Hiring Discrimination 

Hiring, or discrimination in the hiring process, can take many different forms, including but not limited to:

• Advertising for employees only of a particular group, or employees who are not part of a particular group (when the ad excludes job applicants on the basis of a protected characteristic);
• Asking questions during a job interview about the applicant’s race or ethnic background, or about their family’s race or ethnic background or national origin;
• Asking questions during a job interview about the applicant’s spouse or partner related to that partner being a member of a protected class (e.g., questions about the spouse’s race or sex);
• Using a job applicant questionnaire designed to obtain information about the applicant’s status with regard to a protected class (e.g., the applicant’s race, age, sex, ethnicity);
• Employing certain AI tools that look for characteristics in job applicants that have unlawful biases based on racial, ethnic, sex, or other stereotypes; and
• Deciding not to hire a job applicant because of their actual or perceived race, gender, age, or another protected characteristic.

Who is Protected Against Hiring Discrimination? 

If you are a member of a protected class under state or federal law, then you have protections against discrimination in hiring. It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a job applicant in any way — including all of the above examples — on the basis of their inclusion in any of the protected classes:

• Race;
• Color;
• Religion;
• Ethnicity and ethnic background;
• Sex, including gender;
• Pregnancy;
• National origin;
• Age (if 40 or over);
• Disability (including visible and “invisible” disabilities); and
• Genetic information.

Most state and federal laws that protect against discrimination in the hiring practice apply to employers with 15 or more employees. If you believe you faced discrimination in a recent hiring process, you should talk with a lawyer about the employer’s details and whether you could be eligible to file a claim.

Contact Our Palm Beach Gardens Employment Discrimination Attorneys 

While employees often know that they have some protections against discrimination in the workplace, job applicants do not always realize that they are entitled to many of the same protections during the job application and hiring process. If you experienced any kind of action or behavior during the hiring process for a job you recently applied for, it is important to discuss the details of your case with one of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens employment discrimination lawyers at Sconzo Law Office. We can speak with you today to learn more about the negative experience you had, and we can help you to move forward with a claim if you experienced unlawful discrimination under state or federal law. Contact us today for assistance.

Sources:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0760/0760ContentsIndex.html

eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964

archive.ada.gov/ada_title_I.htm