LEGAL EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
by
Gregory V. Boulware
8.17.8
http://www.BoulwareEnterprises.com /*
Seeking employment? Looking for a job? Have you not experienced this - “applicants are subject to background check(s) - (drug screen, criminal background check, child abuse, and CREDIT CHECK)?
When applying to a job and/or career position, you can always expect the standardized “background check.” If you are hired to drive a vehicle, be responsible to care for and/or teach someone’s children, operate machinery, stock shelves, maintain a data base, mop a floor, fry chicken and flip hamburgers, wash cloths, wash windows, or whatever the hell else you’re applying to do, why is it so important to have a credit check? Albeit, if you are applying to work in a bank or handle funds of some nature, one can be expected to be investigated for fraud, stealing, robbery, and any other crime involving money!
But if you are doing a job while working on a construction project, i.e., laying bricks or knocking down a wall, driving a truck, or taking out the trash and mopping a floor (which is expected of many of us), why in the hell would anyone want to know if your credit is good or not?
I’ve applied to many job opportunities where this Claus is the application/hiring requirement. Have you seen the same? How many times have you applied electronically (internet application) and not contacted? How many times have you received a call from a potential employer (usually an HR Rep.), and he or she explained that if your credit score is not in a certain percentile, you will not be interviewed and/or selected for further processing? I received a telephone interview once where the interviewer literally stated that if your credit score were not acceptable, you would not get the job! The job position was “Administrative Assistant”, a job classification that I’ve worked for several years; the interview itself went pretty well up to that point. I never disclosed to the interviewer what my credit score was. I believe that “it’s none of your business!” They would also ask if you’ve had a bankruptcy or not. That one almost always indicates they don’t want to talk to you! I also understand that employers wish to evaluate the applicant’s skill set regarding responsibility, trustworthiness, and/or the ability to handle his or her personal affairs. The latter should not be invasive to the candidate’s personal life and/or affairs.
It seems to me if employers want to hire “legal American Employees”, they could make the process a bit more appealing and less stressful. The reports that I have seen on the major networks always mention the unemployment figures only to exacerbate the financial status image of the country and/or to benchmark their ratings. After filing out a long drawn out application, with multiple profile pages, answering all of the questions over and over again; taking more than an hour to complete, receiving the email that reads - “we have received your application, should we find that you are a fit to what we are seeking - a representative will contact you”. Only to not be contacted or interviewed is more than enough to make any potential job seeker say to “hell with this.” When your career accomplishments, scholastic achievements, are not being recognized and/or respected, it’s small wonder that jobs are not being fulfilled as expected (or planned).
Outsourcing, NAFTA, the hiring of so-called cheap-non taxable-uncontested-illegal immigrant labor has wrecked havoc on the nations’ economic stability. I can recall when one could walk out of one job setting and go directly across the street and get another job without blinking an eye - back in the day when the country was a powerhouse of manufacturing and self sustaining manufacturing qualities. Its people were proud to say “it’s made in America by Americans and we made it at our place of employment.” I can recall when fathers’ and mothers’ could tell their children stories of what they contributed to a certain product or what building they worked in and what building they helped to construct.
American workers of all races, colors, creeds, ages, and religions have bent over backwards to stay abreast of the changes in the work force. They and I have gone back to school, earned college degrees, endured new and continuous training in order to keep up and/or compete in the global and domestic job market. It seems to me, with all of the adversity that Americans face on a daily basis, we continue to listen to tales of economic woe. The companies continue to cry out “we don’t have enough qualified workers to fulfill our workforce needs.” How many Americans do you think buy that garbage? Especially when the vast majority of companies are making high profits - “hand over fist”, via offshore skill and labor. When do you think they will wake up and realize that they are part of the problem and not party to the solution? What ever happened to “skill and trade shop training in the public school systems? What ever happened to “on the job training and skill recognition?” If you are an older-seasoned worker, being respected or recognized for your life skills is a total joke! The higher food chain moguls seek ways to eradicate our pension(s), social security, job security and stability, and seek ways of putting us out to pasture. Some of their excuses are “your job skills are outdated, we need to introduce younger workers with fresh ideas and skills.” “We need new blood!” Do they remember who trained them in their jobs or whom it was that mentored them and made it possible to attain their current status?
You know...there need not be any poor people...if every multibillionaire - multimillionaire sponsored every poor person in the world by providing food and permanent shelter forever, they wouldn’t lose a dime! They already have more money than they’ll ever need in a lifetime. Their children for generations will never see a hungry day! Many of these people always talk about giving back to the community...”we gave to charity organizations”...”we belong to the 4-H Club”...is this the most viable and touchable way to do it? Think about it? If every person had a place to live, food in their refrigerators...do you think there would be a need to commit a crime? Yeah, there will probably be criminals...but the majority of people just want to live! They want to have a place to call their own...they want to be able to eat on a daily basis...and to live in peace. If every rich person gave a person who has nothing, a house and a food source...that is truly giving back to the community. The thing is, greed and control has a way of destroying what GOD has intended for his people. I don’t understand why people need to feel better than others...have more than others...feel the need to control and/or enslave others...why is it rich people cannot share the wealth? Many of them prospered on the backs of others.
The thing is, we need to get back to the respectable way of life in America. They need to do away with the credit check (except where and when necessary, i.e., money handlers), stop the intimidating practice of turning off potential candidates who fit the bill and be aware of the candidate who will put it all on the line in order to get the coveted job, not just succeed in the interview process, and put emphasis on the need of out-placed skilled-seasoned workers and what they are willing to do in order to get the job and get it done professionally - the American Way! While there is many ways to make corrections to this dilemma, the employers seeking qualified workers should start with in-house evaluations - How would they feel if it were they who are usurped and their jobs outsourced to who-knows-where for the sake of profit and/or the balance sheet? Look at the big picture - The Dignity of the American Worker, Young, Old, Black, White, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and whatever the differences visual and/or implied, to not allow negative suggestions guide the decision to hire “Qualified American Workers.”
Stop the Legal Discrimination of our American Work Force.
The Message?
“View My Resume and Qualifications and Tell Me That I am Not Able to Perform the Job at Hand!” What in the hell does my credit record have to do with the performance of career duties? Did you not think that something drastic happened in my life to cause a bad credit history? Did you not think that illness or the separation from employment had something to do with a less than perfect credit history? Do you think that people like me wish to remain indebted? What are/were you thinking when you see my credentials? The sacrifices, determination, and hard work that it took in order to get a better job to sustain my family, pay my legitimate bills/debts, and live a better life? Everyone cannot be an entrepreneur, albeit we all are when we barter our services to employers, companies, and corporations that require and/or have need of our skills and labor! Would you not wish to see a better country...a better world?
Allow us the right to pursue our dreams and posterity. We certainly understand the concept of “One rotten apple!” There will most certainly always be one or two who will choose to not comply with basic life standards and corrupt the system. The tools exist to weed out those culprits. It’s wrong to deny access to gainful employment based upon perceived broad-brushed conceptions and false images of so-called credit corruption among the masses, simply because they cannot pay their debts.
Law Makers, Legislators, Senators, Employers, and anyone else who signs and create Mandates:
YES, YOU CAN “STOP THE LEGAL DISCRIMINATION OF OUR AMERICAN WORK FORCE.” “STOP LEGAL EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION”
*/
Posted By: Gregory V. Boulware, Esq.
Tuesday, August 19th 2008 at 4:07PM
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