IT'S THE LAW! Avoiding Discriminatory Advertising
Just about everyone is aware that there are discrimination laws pertaining to employment practices. It is common knowledge that when placing an ad for a new employee you cannot say, "White men only need apply," or "buxom young blond females wanted."
But what we often do not realize is the way we might be saying these or similar things in our ad copy or layout without realizing. Sometimes what we are doing is illegal; sometimes it is just a cause for concern. These causes for concern, however, can get both the advertiser and the newspaper into litigious hot water.
There are two very general rules of thumb for ad copy and design I want to throw out here right now:
- Do not include a photo of people
- Do not include gender in a job title
Why no people in a photo? Because try as you might you will never cover all age groups, all ethnic groups, all races, all disabilities. If you strive to include both blacks and whites you may hear from someone of Asian descent that you do not want to hire them; or if everyone looks young a 40+ applicant could complain. It is just not worth the risk and the trouble. And worse yet, if someone of Asian descent applies and does not get the job, even if they are not qualified, you run the risk of being questioned about your reasons.
Why not gender in a job title? Well, it seems obvious that you cannot hire only males so you cannot say "Bus Boy" but you would be surprised at the number of times you can open up a small town small newspaper Classified section and see it written there. There are some states whose legislation says that you cannot discriminate only if you employ 15 (or maybe 13, or 10) or more people, and smaller companies will say, "I have the legal right to say this."
Don't do it. I am no lawyer but you may end up in hot water over it. What this state provision was originally meant for were situations like an elderly female who needed someone to come into her home and help her dress and bathe and she wanted a woman for this. Or a day care center who advertised itself as "Christian" and wanted caregivers knowledgeable in the bible stories they read to the children. If you are in a situation such as this you describe yourself and your situation - NOT what you require of the applicant. For instance, "elderly female needs..." rather than "elderly needs female". "Christian day care needs..." not "day care needs Christian." Philosophically I am opposed to the latter, however. It might be argued that if a Jewish or Hindu person was willing to read Bible stories why should you not hire them? See how careful you have to be?
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