New California regulations prohibit pre-employment inquiries and job applications that may be used to screen out applicants based on their religious creed, disability, medical condition and age.
Employers are encouraged to review the following restrictions to ensure their pre-employment practices are compliant with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s new regulations before they take effect July 1.
Pre-employment inquiries
- Employers are not permitted to request scheduling information that would disclose an applicant’s religious background, disability or medical condition.
- Any scheduling inquiry must clearly communicate that the applicant does not need to disclose any scheduling restrictions based on legally protected grounds.
- Employers are prohibited from requesting an applicant’s age, date of birth or graduation dates.
Online job applications
- Online application technologies that screen out applicants based on their schedule may have a disparate impact on applicants based on religious creed, disability or medical conditions and must allow applicants to request scheduling accommodations.
- Online applications that require applicants to enter their age to access or complete an application are prohibited.
- Applications must not include age-based cut-off dates or utilize automated section criteria or algorithms that have the effect of screening out applicants age 40 and older.
Recruiting and advertising
- Unless age is an occupational qualification for the position, employers are prohibited from using any language that “a reasonable person would interpret as deterring or limiting employment of people age 40 and over” (i.e., “young” or “recent college graduate”).
- Advertisements cannot include maximum experience limitations.
Presumption of age discrimination
- Practices and policies that have a disparate impact on workers age 40 and older are prohibited.
- Employers must be able to show that all practices are job-related and consistent with business necessity to avoid presumption of age discrimination.
Find more information on employment practices, laws and regulations in the CDA Practice Support resource library.