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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Law & Legal |
Equal Opportunity Employment Laws? |
There is a department at my wifes job that is hard to get into unless you are related to the boss or someone already in that department. There are certain requirements for this job in which my wife meets all of the requirements. The problem is that when these jobs become available, they do not usually post these jobs to the employers or to the outside. They have been hiring people that is either th boss's son, related to a supervisor, or people they are friendly with. My wife knows of a few examles of people they hired (presumeably without an interview) that do not even meet the minimum requirements. One of the requirements is that they must be former military (it is a government contracted job). The position has a few people that were never in the military (like the boss's son). I dont think this is classified as a government job so I don't know what the law is pertaining to this. Does anyone know the law? This is in the state of Kentucky. Is there anything she can do? This would be a difficult case to prove and enforce. Here are a few reasons. 1) In a many business, especially family businesses, nepotism is perfectly legal. 2) To prove and win a discrimination case, you must prove that your wife was descriminated against specifically because she belongs to a protected class, such as a minority race, religon, disability, etc... In this case, she can't prove that - the reason has nothing to do with any of the protected classes. I really don't think you have a legal leg to stand on. What they are doing is wrong, but probably legal. -->Adam Equal Employment Opportunity Laws pertain to the company as a whole and not necessarily to individual departments within the company. For example, not every employee is qualified to be company president, so filing a discrimination claim because you didn't get a chance to be president would not get you too far. T In an audit, the EEOC would look at the demographics of the employee population (women vs. men, minorities, ages) and then link that to pay and position data - so if every position for a manager and above was filled by a white male under 40, and every position that paid less than $25k/year was filled by a Hispanic female, that would be a pretty clear-cut discrimination issue. Public companies and companies that do work for the government often have strict EEO guidelines that they must follow; private firms and smaller companies don't have the same level of stringent oversight required. It's not illegal for companies to hire relatives of current employees, nor is it illegal for them to refuse to post a position for internal hire, or even to hire someone who doesn't meet all of the requirements for the job. Unless your wife can show that the company's hiring practices overall are discriminatory in nature, she doesn't have a claim. You can look at www.eeoc.gov for laws. Generally unless a person has a union or employment contract they are an at will employee. At will employee can be hired, fired, promoted, or demoted for any reason EXCEPT discrimination by age, sex, race, etc (all at the eeoc website). Neopitism is not one of those items considered discrimination, neither is hiring friends and buddys -- as long as the hiring is not based on those items of discrimination. That is the Federal Law, Kentucky may have additional laws, do a internet search on the Human Rights Department in your state. In the federal government there is a priviledge given to those who have served the country in the military, that will hire a former military person over one with equal qualifications that has not been in the military. That is also legal. Some federal contracts include using that military priviledge. If you wife believes that she has been bypassed for promotion due to discrimination for her age or sex or any other bases, she may want to speak with a local employment attorney about filing a complaint/lawsuit. WARNING if she sues the company she works for, it is pretty sure that as soon as they can they will terminate her. Yes, that termination is against the law, but employment laws differ from criminal laws in that she could not go into court on an emergency motion to be rehired -- if she was terminated she would only be able to file another complaint/lawsuit. EEO law applies to all private companies that have 15 or more employees. Assuming that the company your wife works for has satisfied that requirement, she is protected under and federal and in most cases state law, which may provide additionally protection. All that means if she doesn't have a case on the federal level you may be able to bring on a case on the state level. Kentucky law provides similar protection under its Labor and Human Rights Law - Civil Rights. Your wife is in a protected class because she is a woman. In KY, she is even protected if she is a smoker! She does not have to prove overall discriminatory practices - though it would help. All she has to prove is that SHE was discriminated against. If she applied to the position and someone else who was not qualified got the position and that person was a man, she may have a claim. Depending on her age, she could have a ADEA claim but she would have to be over 40. If she has a disability, she is given additional protection under the ADA. If she feels that she was discriminated against because of her gender, disability (which is a little bit more complicated) or age, she can file a claim with the state and/or the federal government. She can call 800-669-4000 to find the closest EEO office. But she could also file the complaint with the Commonwealth of KY by going online here: http://kchr.ky.gov/complaintform.htm... |
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