It's hard to believe, but some job recruiters have actually been telling applicants not to apply if they're unemployed. And with the unemployment rate at over 9 percent nationwide, that negatively impacts 14 million people. President Obama's job bill would have made discrimination against the unemployed illegal, so this issue could pop up again. It's a measure being applauded by some, but opposed by small business.
"It's not just bad for the workers, it's bad for the country. It's bad for the economy. It's a tremendous waste of human capital to tell people that because they lost a job they're not eligible to get a new one," said Drew Courtney from People for the American Way.
"We are concerned it would chill the hiring practices of small businesses because they would be worried they would get sued if they failed to hire a person who had been unemployed for a long period of time," said Karen Harned from the National Federation of Independent Business.
The group fears the law will result in frivolous lawsuits.
