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  3. U.S. employers are anticipating a rise in workplace discrimination claims based on their own hiring policies. Employment law fir

U.S. employers are anticipating a rise in workplace discrimination claims based on their own hiring policies. Employment law fir

admin2016-01-29  61
问题     U.S. employers are anticipating a rise in workplace discrimination claims based on their own hiring policies. Employment law firm Littler Mendelson asked 500 representatives of companies with both small and large market capitalizations about their deepest legal anxieties this year. Fifty-seven percent said they expected an increase in discrimination claims because of their interest in an applicant’s criminal history—the companies’ top concern when asked about the enforcement efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC).
    A growing number of states have adopted laws that prevent employers from asking on job applications whether applicants have a criminal record. Thirty percent of the employers surveyed by Littler Mendelson said they had removed such questions from their applications. An additional 40 percent said they are hiring contractors to do background checks for them. The report suggested that this strategy may be risky because people are filing a growing number of lawsuits tied to third-party investigations of criminal history and seeking class action status. "This trend will not slow down soon," the report said.
    Still, this year’s respondents were less likely than last year’s to say that they expect an increase in over discrimination claims.
    The employers’ second-biggest concern is potential claims over equal pay and the treatment of workers based on their sexuality, age, and disabilities. Employers seemed especially confused as to how to run employee wellness programs without getting into trouble for discriminating against disabled people.
    The programs generally offer incentives to employees who hit health or fitness benchmarks and are encouraged by the Affordable Care Act. Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued several companies for programs that it charged were unfair to workers with disabilities. Overall, companies said they were having fewer problems with the new health-care law than in previous years; one-third said they were anxious about implementing Obamacare, down from 64 percent in 2012.
    The timing of the survey may have played a role in employers’ concerns. The poll was conducted in April and May, when the Supreme Court hadn’t yet ruled in favor of gay marriage. Forty-seven percent of companies said they already had rules protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers, but 20 percent said they were either waiting on the court’s decision to expand their regulations or had no policies in place.
    Getting nailed by the National Labor Relations Board for the working conditions of subcontractors is a further concern. As federal and state authorities continue to scrutinize company decisions as to who counts as an employee, most employers surveyed said they had taken some action to mitigate potential legal challenges, such as auditing independent contractors. Thirty percent said they had made no changes to policies.
    A growing share of C-suite executives and human resources professionals—17 percent—said they expected to "hire aggressively" this year. Compared with previous years, companies were also less likely to say they had unhappy employees staying in their jobs because there were no alternatives, or that people were stuck in jobs that didn’t make good use of their skills.
How do the additional 40% of the employers feel about the criminal history of their applicants?
选项 A、They think the criminal history of their applicants is not very important.
B、They are still interested in whether their applicants have committed crimes or not.
C、They feel it is risky to do background checks for their applicants.
D、They are not in favor of asking applicants criminal record on job applications.
答案B
解析 观点态度题。定位到第二段第三句：An additional 40 percent said they are hiring con—tractors to do background checks for them．第二段第三句话提到：另外40％的公司雇佣合同工做背景调查，contractor在文中是“合同工”的意思。由此可见这40％的公司还是在意员工的背景，以及他们是否有犯罪记录的。[B]符合题意，为正确选项。如果对原文意义理解有偏差，则[A]项很具有迷惑性。[C]项中的risky不是这40％的公司的看法，而是调查报告的看法，在第二段倒数第二句有提及。[D]选项“这40％的公司不支持在工作申请中询问求职者的犯罪记录”，原文并未提及，可排除。
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