About what can employers ask on job applications
Stan K
collecting Social Security.
Among the hints I received concerning my resume were not to put job
experience that was no longer relevant (like early career jobs where
the technology is either obsolete or which shows work I haven't done
in years) or the date of my college degrees. While, based on
experience, one could see that I'm at least middle-aged, it wouldn't
show that I'm a senior citizen.
The problem is that on-line job applications I've filled out do ask
for the date of my degree, which means that by subtracting 21 from the
year of the degree, with 99% probability one can easily determine the
latest I could've been born.
So, is such a question legal?
Deadrat
21266e...@c34g2000yqn.googlegroups.com:
It's not so much that certain questions are illegal, but that certain
kinds of discrimination are illegal. (An exception per the Americans
with Disabilities Act is asking about a person's disability.) Employers
are not permitted to discriminate on the basis of age and are generally
advised not to ask a candidate's birth date, except to determine whether
a candidate is eligible to work or in rare cases when age has been
determined to be a legitimate consideration. But what you're worried
about is a question that allows indirect determination of age, and it's
probably legal and probably not even evidence of discrimination if they
use the information to confirm the validity of your degree.
You'd have to prove age discrimination, which is hard to do based on your
own experience alone. For example, if you could show that the company
refused to interview anyone with a degree older than 30 years, you'd have
a case.
If you get an interview, then the date of your degree on the application
isn't much of a worry. The interviewer will have a good idea of your age
when he sees you. Interviewers have their own prejudices, of course, and
you could always run into such a whippersnaper, but the company doesn't
have to pay extra for the seniority of a new hire. So it's not like they
have an incentive not to hire you in the same way they have an incentive
to fire their senior (and more expensive) staff.
Robert Bonomi
Stan K <stan...@hotmail.com> wrote:
{{ paraphrased -- on-line job application forms ask for dates for college
degrees, giving prospective employer a way to determine applicant age }}
>So, is such a question legal?
Yes.
grendal
> The problem is that on-line job applications I've filled out do ask
> for the date of my degree, which means that by subtracting 21 from the
> year of the degree, with 99% probability one can easily determine the
> latest I could've been born.
>
> So, is such a question legal?
Yes, and more than likely its not to determine your age, but to verify
your degree.
The truth is that depending on your skill set, the most relevant
information isn't your full career, but what you've done lately.
I think that if you're in some form of Social Networking site, you
should filter the type and amount of information you make public,
however in an online application, I wouldn't worry.
The sad truth of these online sites is that they get way too many
resumes from a very diverse pool of applicants. Many of whom are not
qualified for the position. IMHO they are a great way to make money
for the software developers and let the HR staff be lazy. While I'm
limited in what I've seen, I can say that companies that take a more
hands on approach, or allow more involvement by the hiring manager
(person who needs the worker) tend to get better quality employees and
more productivity from their staff.
In today's economy, it would be daft to do age discrimination. They 50
year old empty nester could be cheaper to employ that the recent
college grad who's background is limited to the latest technology yet
has a small family to support.
Not to mention that if they are caught, the penalties make the
potential cost savings look foolish.