A bill aimed at protecting the unemployed from discrimination when applying for a job could backfire and result in less hiring, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday as he vetoed the measure.
The City Council bill would bar employers from asking about an applicant’s employment status unless there was a job-related reason for doing so.
The mayor said the proposed law creates “an ambiguous legal standard” that’s going to “add litigation, not jobs.”
Bloomberg also said he has reservations about adding the unemployed as a protected class under the city’s Human Rights law.
Christine Owens, director of the National Employment Law Project, said the mayor’s action signals that “discrimination against the jobless is tolerable.”
A second bill passed by the Council exempting unions from disclosing communications with their members for campaign purposes also got vetoed. The Council is expected to override both.