|
This is part of what divides the nation, the GOP says business ought to be free to hire ONLY who they want to, fire anyone that costs them more, and not insure you to boot.
And some on the left want you protected to the point where you can get a job and then bleed the firm white with sick pay and leave, and with higher rates for health coverage for all.
There is a middle ground I think. If your condition so puts you at disadvantage in employment that you cannot compete on a level field with other workers in any job, then you should be allowed to work part-time and get social security. But, there is no middle ground in America any more.
We are forced to pick a side. I wish we could say that federal, state and local governments would hire the people like you and me, and leave the Faustian free market to it's own devices. But, all the preferential laws, and antidiscrimination laws, and even such as veteran's preference are hogwash. Let's face it, the nation says we are not unemployable, they just will not hire us.
In my case I have a bachelor degree in finance, and a lot of experience, I am smart, good-looking, and ethical. I am loyal too. But, as a 70% disabled veteran I could not get a job, for years, from 2001 till I was retired by the VA a few months ago. I had applied for a hundred jobs FAR beneath my ability and credentials and even the VA would not hire me in spite of laws that say they MUST hire me unless another disabled vet is applying for the post. What they did was cancel the vacancy for a few months and I reapplied for the same job over and over, what it amounted to was that the supervisors with openings were just NOT going to have their hires dictated to them no matter WHAT the law was. And that was the VA, if I cannot get a job as a disabled vet with the VA then who CAN I work for?
The problem is that in ALL cases of discrimination the burden of proof is on an individual with no resources. And all grievances and appeals have to go through the same agency that discriminated in the first place, I have first hand experience.
Look at the percentage of the population that has a "disabling" condition. Mind you that does not mean you have to look and need the same accommodation as somebody like Stephen Hawking, just a condition that makes you less than the all American boy in the next cubicle, that is prone to more absenteeism. Now, go into any business and see if you see anybody like that. I worked at Huntington Bank headquarters in the trust administration department and the whole time I was there I never once saw a single person that had ANY kind of disability, not on 30 floors of that structure. Same when I worked for the state of Florida, and Ohio, or with the largest PPO in the country in New York.
Worse than that, I know I got a job when I was 21 because I was better looking than the competition. There were many applicants but only three interviewed for these two jobs, I was no better than the others, but one woman that showed up to interview was decidedly unattractive. And by that I mean she was really very hard to look at. I felt sorry for her, and myself for thinking it. But, she did not get the job, I and another did. I would ask why that is not considered a disability in light of the fact that her employment record will show that she cannot get a job.
Now, I am over 40, I cannot get a job. Thanks to Bush Amerika there will ALWAYS be younger, better looking, more educated people than me at any interview. When we had full employment under Clinton any person that wanted work could get it. They were hiring house pets in his second term sight unseen.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
