Failing (or refusing) to hire the unemployed Several years after the

Failing (or refusing) to hire the unemployed
<
<
Several years after the market crash of 2008, legislation was introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives that proposed penalizing employers for discriminating against unemployed individuals. As drafted, the ‘Fair Consideration of the Unemployed Act’ prohibited employers from advertising employment opportunities suggesting current employment was a job requirement. Take a look at this Flint Journal article https://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/2011/07/state_rep_jim_ananich_pushing.html.
<
published in shortly after the bill was introduced for some additional information.
<
<
Ultimately, the Fair Consideration of the Unemployed Act never left the House of Representatives and was never enacted. However, in light of the economic shutdown triggered by COVID-19, circumstances are ripe for the reintroduction of similar legislation.
<
<
Employment status is not a protected class recognized by the Civil Rights Act or any of the other statutes we will discuss as part of this course. Some states have been successful in implementing protections similar to those contemplated by the Fair Consideration of the Unemployed Act, but in other states efforts to implement such laws have been contested as a constraint on business and a red-carpet invitation for frivolous lawsuits by allegedly aggrieved applicants. Based on your own experiences, or those of friends and family, do you think it should be? Why?