Forums
Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
Legal Forum
Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
Recently a friends wanted to apply for a job at a local university hospital. The application process is online. After entering his name, address, etc. he was asked to self-identify himself as far as e
0
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54
Cat:Topic ForumsForum:ForumId54Discussion:DiscussionId36510
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
|
Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
posted at 4/29/2010 7:38 AM EDT
|
Posts: 6
First: 11/29/2004 Last: 4/29/2010 |
Recently a friends wanted to apply for a job at a local university hospital. The application process is online. After entering his name, address, etc. he was asked to self-identify himself as far as ethnicity, veteran's status, and gender. Then the next screen asked for him to enter the following information. He could NOT submit the application without filling in this data or could he put in faux data since he had to digitally sign the application and agree that the info was true and not misleading.
Highschool/GED School name; school location; graduation year; major; degree/diploma Did you graduate? -- yes or no Your name at time of receipt. Doesn't forcing an applicant to reveal his or her date of graduation from high school, open the door to age discrimination? What should he do about this? Thanks |
|
|
Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
posted at 4/29/2010 8:21 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
The piece of info you're missing here is how the information is used and protected.
If the date of high school graduation is not seen by a selecting manager/employee, then asking for it is OK - it'd be the same as asking for ethnic origin info. However, if the high school graduation date is visible to someone reviewing applications prior to selecting candidates, then the organization might find it difficult to defend against an age discrimination suit. Most frequently, this info is used for education verification purposes further along in the process. |
|
|
Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
posted at 4/30/2010 7:53 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 410
First: 1/26/2006 Last: 11/15/2010 |
Hi:
Actually in various states it would be considered illegal to ask about dates of schooling as part of a job application. Certainly, requesting DOB may be necessary at a later point in the hiring process insofar as such information is needed for quickly and accurately accessing background information about a candidate. I trust this information is helpful. Dave Arnold, Ph.D., J.D. |
|
|
Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
posted at 4/30/2010 10:02 AM EDT
|
|
Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
In the "olden days" that kind of information was collected on a form that was kept separate from the application packet.
The first time I used an electronic application was in government and that data was collected after the applicant submitted their job information and the data management procedures were disclosed up front. One of the worst set ups I've seen was for a telephone company. Applicants had to complete a psychological test before they could browse the job listings. After jumping through all their hoops, I got a message telling me I did not qualify for any openings, but tehre was no way to learn what the openings were. |
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Not so Subtle Age Discrimination
