The Press of Atlantic City’s Juliet Fletcher reports:
Fair hiring bill
Also this week, Assemblywoman Celeste Riley, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, led action to stop companies from posting job openings that excluded applicants who are unemployed.
“This bill is very simply the right thing to do for thousands of New Jerseyans who, through no fault of their own, found themselves without a job in recent years,” said Riley. “Judging a person by whether they have a job is not the way to fill job vacancies. I want to see everyone judged on their skills and ability to do the job.”
The bill, which passed the Senate this week after clearing the Assembly in October, would authorize a $5,000 penalty for a first offense and $10,000 penalties for subsequent offenses, which would be collected by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Positions on the bill:
PRO
From APP.com’s Capitol Quickies blog g:
“We’ve seen a lot of tough things during this recession, but this trend of purposefully bypassing unemployed people when looking to fill job openings is inexplicable,” said [Peter J.] Barnes, [III] D-Middlesex. “I see no reason for this practice that, when you think about, only helps perpetuate a high unemployment rate. It’s unfair and it must stop.”
CON
“I think this accomplishes nothing. The bill does not require employers to consider the unemployed. That’s a separate argument,” Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris, said during the October committee hearing. “The only thing we’d be doing is telling companies they can’t say that in ads.”
What do you think about this bill? Will it help the situation? Is it the right type of action for government to take to ensure liberty and justice for all, or should the government just stay out of this matter and not intrude in the actions of private business and free citizens?
Leave your comments below. The Governor has yet to sign this bill.
(Image Source – http://www.engagecommunitychurch.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/you-decide001.jpg)
I’m for allowing a company to hire whoever it wants. If you want to bar unemployed, tattooed, fat, bald, whatever. A company should be permitted to hire whoever it wants without government interference. As long, of course, as you don’t discriminate via race, creed or sex, right?
Posted by dave202 | November 30, 2010, 12:09 am