A new form of employment discrimination seems to be on the rise in the workplace. To many, it is very surprising and simply unfair.

According to a recent report published by the National Employment Law Project, job seekers are seeing a strange addition to new job ads in the classifieds. Several of them say that those without jobs should not apply. Jobless discrimination, an unfair bias against the unemployed, is becoming a more frequent occurrence. New Jersey is one of the few states that have already banned the procedure.

Though it may not be disability discrimination or racial discrimination directly, some say that unemployment discrimination is still a form of many other types of discrimination, including those aforementioned. Those that argue that jobless discrimination is a form of other discriminations cite the likelihood of different groups to be unemployed. A much higher percentage of disabled individuals are unemployed as compared to those without a disability. Similarly, certain minority groups are more likely to be unemployed than others. The argument that jobless discrimination is just as unfair as other forms of discrimination is not unsound.

Despite the report published by the National Employment Law Project, citing many companies that have published employment advertisements involving jobless discrimination, few companies are willing to take responsibility for committing the act. One company has defended the act, but many others say that firms they have hired to post the ads are guilty of the prejudice.

A recent bill has been introduced into both the House and the Senate that could make discrimination against the unemployed illegal.

Source: Yahoo! News, “Few own up to ‘jobless need not apply’ ads,” Zachary Roth, Aug. 11, 2011