Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Great News: Obama's 'Jobs' Act Makes it Illegal to Discriminate Against the Unemployed

Knowing Obama, there can be nothing good to come of this. So you're unemployed (because of Obama), but you perceive someone isn't hiring you because you're unemployed (thanks to Obama). So what to do? Lawyer up, it's lawsuit time!
President Obama's American Jobs Act, which he presented to Congress on Monday, would make it illegal for employers to run advertisements saying that they will not consider unemployed workers, or to refuse to consider or hire people because they are unemployed.

The proposed language is found in a section of the bill titled "Prohibition of Discrimination in Employment on the Basis of an Individual's Status as Unemployed." That section would also make it illegal for employers to request that employment agencies take into account a person's unemployed status.

It would also allow aggrieved job-seekers to seek damages if they have been discriminated against. This provision in particular prompted Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) to argue that Obama's proposal is aimed at creating a new, special class of people who can sue companies.

"So if you're unemployed, and you go to apply for a job and you're not hired for that job, see a lawyer," Gohmert said on the House floor. "You might be able to file a claim because you got discriminated against because you're unemployed."
Is there any Obama constituency not getting a payoff with this latest jobs scam of his?
He said this provision would only discourage companies from interviewing unemployed candidates, and would "help trial lawyers who are not having enough work," since there are about 14 million unemployed Americans.

"That's 14 million potential new clients that could go hire a lawyer and file a claim because they didn't get hired even though they were unemployed," he said.
Employers are already nervous enough, thanks to Obama. Now they have to worry about frivolous lawsuits. This lunacy just cannot continue.

4 comments:

rick s. geiger said...

I agree this is a dumb idea, primarily because employers will look at resumes and throw out most of those from people that are unemployed to avoid the risk, and even if that is illegal it is nearly impossible to prove, and I have practiced plaintiffs employment law.  It will also place more bad cases in the EEOC queue and with the state agencies and they are way behind now.  The fact is that most employment cases fail, most employees cannot find a lawyer to take their case because most cases are bad and 30% of 0 is less than zero when you have put in two years and advaced 10k on the case.  The real scam in employment law are the defense lawyers that get paid for giving advice that is usually the kind of advice that assures lots of new claims, and then they get paid to defend those claims

Richard Butler said...

This is just another government version of Affirmative Action that creates a new class of victim. They go way toooo far.

RamblingMother said...

So we can get lawyered up to sue Obama, right?

I just was laid off again last Friday (or rather the long term indefinite temp assignment definitely ended) and I was reluctant to file for UE because I interviewed for another assignment that starts on 9/28.  Thankfully I got that position but that lasts through the end of the year. 

Anyway, I decided to sign up so that I could be one of the numbers reported in the news as "unexpectedly" unemployment claims rise again.  Gotta get my "number" in the news somehow, heh

Toddy Littman said...

Nicely done!  I found this same provision, when combined with the Section 376 Waiver of Sovereign Immunity, and subsection d of that section, providing for all "remedies at law and equity" a form of leveraging and backdoor prosecutorial amnesty to Illegal aliens.  Tweeted link to my article to Representative Gohmert as well, American Jobs Act, "Illegal Alien & Unemployed Civil Rights Act," http://changingwind.org