How Recruitment and Human Resources Define "Discrimination."

[paft.livejournal.com]

Advice on how to handle applications from deaf jobseekers, from people working in recruitment and human resources. You can’t ‘discriminate’ -- instead:

I just probably would have let her fill it out. You write a note on the back of it that said ‘not a fit.’

Just accept it and don’t call. You can’t tell her that. Handicapped people, they have more rights than anyone in the world. You just have to accept her application and then just don’t call.

You have to be very careful. In today’s world, they’ll cut your hands off.

Thanks to Daily Kos

ABC News did its own version of Candid Camera, recently. Several actors enacted a scene in a coffee house – two deaf job applicants applying for a kitchen position, and a manager telling them not to bother. I’m happy to relate that many customers reacted with disgust to what they were hearing. A few even confronted the manager and one coffee-drinker demonstrated the bracing merits of making a scene by doing it from across the room. But…

Three people, all of them in either recruitment or human resources, scurried up to the manager afterwards to advise, in discreetly lowered voices, on the “correct” way to handle it. The correct response, they explained, is to just accept the application and then not call the applicant.

I doubt most black or Hispanic viewers, most disabled viewers, or many female viewers, are shocked by this revelation. Those comments about the influence of the deaf as a group (“they have more rights than anyone in the world, ” “They’ll cut your hands off”) are especially familiar. When I worked in corporate America, I frequently heard wildly exaggerated anecdotes painting women, blacks, the disabled, etc. as powerful forces before which employers must cower. Why this amazing clout has still not translated into equitable income and employment levels is a mystery.

There are two points I’d like to make. First, this is why Affirmative Action is necessary. Employers and recruiters are quite capable of writing “don’t bother” on applications and, when asked about the dearth of minorities, women, etc., batting their eyes innocently and insisting that they just couldn’t find anyone in those groups who were qualified. AA acknowledges that reality. Without it, laws against racial and sexual discrimination would barely be worth the paper they’re printed on.

And second, anyone looking for a job, including white males with no physical disability, should be concerned about this. More and more employers are screening out the jobless or those with credit problems. “Not a fit” can end up being written on your application too, not because of your qualifications or your ability, but because you are unemployed and/or in debt.

Crossposted from ThoughtcrimesThoughtcrimes

Comments

Re: No......

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

Lawsuits do not equate business shut down.

Re: No......

[eracerhead.livejournal.com]

You cannot be serious.
http://www.adalawsuits.com/aboutthecrisis/closedbusinesses.html

Re: No......

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

*looks*
Still not seeing any from GA.
That page is full of California, but I cannot speak for that state. I've never visited it. And never will.

Re: No......

[eracerhead.livejournal.com]

You stated "Lawsuits do not equate business shut down" which I called you on. So now you say, lawsuits do not equate to business shutdown in Georgia. What's next, lawsuits do not equate to business shutdown at 23 Main St, Atlanta, GA on the 29th of February?

Re: No......

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

You apparently didn't read what I said. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

It is asked: "Now how many small businesses have been shut down by it?", with 'it' meaning the ADA.

I answered: None in GA. I did not speak for small businesses anywhere else in the USA, be it New York, Illinois, or even California (noted for its weird hippy laws). I said "None in GA." which means "No small businesses have been shut down due to the ADA in GA."

You then said: "A simple google of 'ada lawsuits' may take you out of fantasyland."

I googled. I found records of ADA lawsuits in GA, the majority of which failed. I found NO records of ADA lawsuits shutting down a small business in GA. So I replied, "Lawsuits do not equate business shut down.", meaning "Google does not substantiate your claim that googling 'ada lawsuits' and 'ga' show evidence of small businesses being shut down by ADA lawsuits in GA.

In all of this thread since answering the first question, my response has been limited to GA alone. Where are you getting that I was speaking for the whole nation?