EEOC: High school diploma requirement might violate Americans with Disabilities Act
Um... I'm really not certain where to begin. An employer asking for a potential employee to provide even the most basic of assurances of some form of remedial education is discrimination? Where in the name of Upton Sinclair does it state that requiring one's employees to have at least a passing familiarity with formal education is the same as refusing to hire blacks, Italians, or people with long hair?Employers are facing more uncertainty in the wake of a letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warning them that requiring a high school diploma from a job applicant might violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The development also has some wondering whether the agency’s advice will result in an educational backlash by creating less of an incentive for some high school students to graduate.
The more basic question, I think, is whether the types of jobs available to folks without a high school diploma are the sort that experience rampant discrimination. In other words, is the EEOC just spending a lot of taxpayer dollars to discover that water is indeed wet? I can't imagine that the local chopped meat with dairy sandwich emporium is hiring folks based on their ability to recite Hamlet's soliloquy; rather I suspect it would become a factor in the promotion of an existing employee - at which point this ruling is moot.
The real trouble with "reports" like this is that they detract from the actual discrimination that occurs every day. Certainly there are more substantial issues facing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - at least one would hope - rather than worrying that an employer is asking about a prospective employee's ability to finish high school. Isn't a high school diploma or equivalent needed to enter the US Armed Forces? Is the EEOC going to sue the USMC? Not to mention that someone whose disability prevented them from finishing high school is going to face more significant hurdles than being denied employment at the local Piggly Wiggly.
But then again, the point of these reports isn't really to make things more fair for people, is it?
That is all.
5 comments:
Typical government, use EVERY mandate, then make it confusing as hell, and loose the dogs of the ACLU... sigh
Yep. And the end result is that things will get a lot worse for folks without diplomas - because employers are going to throw resumes and applications that do not contain high school/college info in the trash...
I don't see how being disabled (as defined by the ADA) prevents one from obtaining a high school diploma or equivalent. Schools were some of the first places that were required to be handicapped-accessible.
wv: laxie. I think somebody at the EEOC might need some, because they're full of...
Next, any old pothead off the street can apply to run large yellow machinery with no training whatsoever... and they'll get the job. What fun!
Sadly, a high school diploma is not "even the most basic of assurances of some form of remedial education".
If a disability prohibits someone from obtaining a diploma, and a diploma is not directly required to show a job skill (and I don't think it could be), then I think the government would be correct.
Not that I agree with the ADA in the first place, but most jobs that require a high school diploma really shouldn't. If someone can perform the job, that's all that matters.
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