Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Job Requirement of High School Diploma Might Just Violate The Americans With Disabilities Act

Lacey says this might be the stupidest thing she's ever read.

Maybe. For now. They'll do something stupider in a month. They're on a collision course with reality and they're increasing to ramming speed.

The “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC said an employer’s requirement of a high school diploma, long a standard criterion for screening potential employees, must be “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.” The letter was posted on the commission’s website on Dec. 2.

Employers could run afoul of the ADA if their requirement of a high school diploma “‘screens out’ an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of ‘disability,’” the EEOC explained.

The commission’s advice, which does not carry the force of law, is raising alarms among employment-law professionals, who say it could carry far-reaching implications for businesses.

It is the nature of bureaucracy to ever seek new missions to justify its funding. And there is apparently no one in government now to push back against this pernicious tendency.

posted by Ace at 03:31 PM

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