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Manhattan Pres. Stringer Wants Bill To Fight Employment Bias

NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP)-- A city official says city and state lawmakers need to pass legislation banning bias against the unemployed in hiring efforts.

LISTEN: 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reports

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Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer says his office found plenty of examples of job postings that required would-be candidates to be currently employed.

"So these companies have two stacks of resumes: they have resumes for the employed, and they have resumes for the unemployed and the unemployed resumes go in the trash basket," Stringer said. "People need to understand that just because you don't have a job doesn't mean you're not qualified to do so many things."

He says its "unconscionable" when there are so many people looking for work. He wants to see lawmakers do something about it.

A survey earlier this year by the National Employment Law Project found more than 150 job postings on employment Web sites requiring that applicants "must be currently employed" or using other exclusionary language based on current employment status.

Stringer also wants to ban the use of credit checks in job applications.

"These countries should be ashamed of themselves," Stringer said. "In our investigation, we had to stop looking at companies because it relates to credit checks as it was so massive that there's a reason why people are struggling extra hard in this city."

Do you think legislation is needed to ban bias against the unemployed? Leave a comment below...

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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