D.C. Passes Law to Protect the Unemployed from Hiring Bias

The District of Columbia has enacted legislation forbidding employers from discriminating against job applicants who are unemployed, joining Oregon and New Jersey in the effort. In all three locations, employers are enjoined from placing job advertisements that say, in effect, "The unemployed need not apply."

This past year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held hearings on the subject of employer bias toward the unemployed in the hiring process, but so far those hearings have not resulted in any new regulations or initiatives on the national level.