EMPLOYMENT LAW: California Lawmaker against Specific Policy in Job Search Requirements

December 29, 2011

Sacramento – Some job ads in California require the applicant to be “currently employed” in order to be qualified for a certain job.

To the eyes of one California lawmaker, though, this kind of practice must be stopped once and for all.

According to reports, state Assemblyman Mike Allen, a Democrat from San Rafael, is going to establish a bill on January of next year that will prohibit employers from posting job openings and advertisements that require applicants who are currently employed.

For Allen, he considers it “cruel… unfair… and wrong..., and discriminatory”, reports said.

The need to pass the bill in California is in line with the continuous rise of the “must be employed” requirement that is catching on in some states.

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a report last summer regarding this practice.

In California, specifically, job openings on mechanics, sales managers and professors are among the few positions in which the unemployed is not required to apply.