Employers are not supposed to discriminate against employees when deciding who to hire. Everyone is supposed to have a fair chance to get a job. Discrimination cannot be carried out based on protected classes, such as race, age, gender, disability and the like.
Unfortunately, it’s true that discrimination still happens. In fact, there are many cases in which the job posting that an employer puts up will be discriminatory simply in the way that it’s written. Here are two ways that can happen.
1. Looking for recent graduates
One potential issue is if a job posting says that they want someone who is energetic, young or a recent college graduate.
It’s easy to see how using the term “young” so directly can be problematic, but specifying that a company wants a recent college graduate is a little different. Some business owners may protest that it is not discriminatory at all. After all, someone could certainly go to college at 50 years old. But most college students are in their mid-20s when they graduate, so a job posting like this still paints a clear picture of the type of person that business is looking to hire.
2. Saying someone isn’t a cultural fit
Another excuse that business owners will sometimes use is claiming that an individual wasn’t a fit for their company culture. But what is the culture that they’re trying to create? If all of the employees are young, it may be true that the office culture is a bit different than if they were older, but that’s still not a reason to discriminate against workers who are over 40 years old.
What options do you have?
Discrimination may be prohibited, but it does happen. Make sure you know what legal options you have if it happens to you.
