One the hottest trends in employment law: cracking down on discrimination against job-seekers with caregiving responsibilities. Here’s some advice from the EEOC on how to stay safe.
Though bias against caregivers isn’t illegal in itself, most cases are brought under sex discrimination law — for example, companies can get in trouble if they hire fathers for upper management positions but not mothers.
The EEOC recently published a list of best practices for avoiding caregiver bias.
The biggest recommendations: Train managers. Point out stereotypes that can result in legal trouble, such as assuming mothers miss a lot of work, or that men don’t need time off for childcare duties. List actions to avoid, such as:
- asking female applicants (but not men) about their family situations
- steering women with family duties to lower-responsibility jobs, and
- denying male employees’ requests for time off related to caregiving duties.
Additionally, stress not only the relevant legal issues, but also point out that hiring based on stereotypes prevents the company from acquiring the best possible employees.
Read all the EEOC’s guidelines here.
