Hiring the Unemployed

These days, employers have tons of applicants for every opening. You have to find some way to narrow down the list. Some employers think it's a good idea to simply screen out anyone who is currently not holding down a job. Depending on where you are located, that can be a big legal mistake.

Consider employers located in the District of Columbia. Since last year, it is illegal to refuse to hire someone because he or she is currently unemployed. And don't even think about putting such a restriction in your help wanted ads. That's illegal, too.  New Jersey and Oregon have similar restriction. And New York City Council is prepared to pass a similar measure, though Mayor Bloomberg has threatened to veto the ordinance if they do.

Why would states get involved? Perhaps because it costs them money to keep employees who would otherwise be hired on unemployment, to provide Medicaid coverage for them and their dependents and to manage Food Stamp eligibility. In short, some state legislatures see prohibiting discrimination against the unemployed as a way to stop the bleeding from their social service budgets and to get tax dollars flowing back into the coffers instead of out.

The lesson: Don't routinely exclude the unemployed from employment. Instead, if you are worried about skills and motivation, ask what the applicant has been doing during his stint collecting unemployment compensation payments. Has she taken refresher classes? Has he volunteered at a homeless center? Spent time mentoring or being mentored These are all factors indicating the applicant may be an excellent candidate. What's more, you likely will get a dedicated and grateful employee with renewed pride and enthusiasm. Why not give him or her a chance?

Is it Time for Small Employers to Self Insure Health Coverage?

As the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) nears, some employers are considering dropping out of the traditonal health insurance market. While not offering coverage at all come 2014 would mean paying a hefty per employee penalty to the government, that's not true if employers self-insure their health care needs. Companies with a relatively young and healthy employee pool may save money by self-insuring routine medical care and purchasing a catastrophic insurance policy (that isn't a health insurance policy) that kicks in only after an employee's medical costs hit a certain level such as $50,000 or $100,000. Because this policy is not health insurance, it isn't regulated as strictly.

The lesson: There may be alternatives to providing traditional health insurance coverage that don't  mean paying a hefty penalty. 

Will Immigration Reform Include Green Cards for Gay Partners?

According to an article in today's New York Times, there is an apparent brain drain going on. It seems that among committed gay couples in which one partner is a foreign citizen, his or her American partner is apt to leave the U.S. for the partner's home country because the foreign partner can't get a so-called Green Card allowing permanent U.S. residence. That's not true for married heterosexual couples of different nationalities. In that case, the non-U.S. citizen can easily get that coveted piece of green paper as soon as the marriage license ink is dry.

Now President Obama has pledged to solve the problem as part of immigration reform. His proposal includes a way for a permanently committed U. S. citizen to petition for a Green Card for his or her partner.

The lesson: Should the President's proposal become law, fewer employers will face losing a valued employee becasue he or she has to move overseas for love. 

Lawyer Faces Jail Over Online Harassment

A Greenwich Village lawyer with a PhD from Harvard is about to go to jail over an online campaign to discredit an academic over the nature of the Dead Sea Scrolls. According to the New York Times, Raphael Golb created a host of online aliases so that he could champion his father's views on the origin of the scrolls. That view had been dismissed by other scholars and Golb apparently tried to change that by posting comments and engaging in intense online debate about his father's minority view and challenging established views on the scrolls' origins - albeit by creating multiple online personas. Those ephemeral Internet creations often referred to each other's postings, making it appear that there was much more support out there for Golb's father's view.

Then Golb crossed a line. He started sending out emails in a real person's name. These emails also supported his father's position. The impersonated professor understandably became upset, telling the NY Times that he feared the false emails and the attention they got could mean lost job opportunities. The target got the DA's office involved and Golb is days away from a six-month prison sentence.

The Lesson: If you don't think this case has implications for your company or organization's Internet policies, think again. Some employees may be tempted to criticize the competition in social media. Your policy should strictly forbid doing so. Warn employees that not only do underhanded tactics violate company rules, but the consequences can include jail time.