It is well known that employers in California, and all across the United States, are not allowed to discriminate based on things like race, national origin or ethnicity. These are all protected classes, along with age, disability status, pregnancy, gender and more. Employers are required to give everyone an equal chance and should make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, education and other necessary qualities.
For this reason, employers are unlikely to ask people about the details in these protected classes. If someone is setting up an interview, for instance, they are not going to ask the prospective employee if they are Black or white. Doing so would clearly be a violation of their rights, especially if the company then made the hiring decision based on this information. But a recent study showed that this type of discrimination still certainly happens, and it may be connected to a person’s name.
Creating fake resumes
In the study, researchers created fictitious applicants and submitted scores of resumes to various companies. For each applicant, they tried to craft a name that either sounded like it would traditionally belong to a white applicant or that it would belong to an African-American applicant. They gave no other indication of the person’s race or ethnicity, but simply picked common names within these groups.
When they did, the results were stunning. With the resumes where the names made the applicant sound white, they were 50% more likely to get a callback or be called in for an interview. This helps to demonstrate that discrimination against African-American applicants still happens, even when employers do not ask them directly.
Do you believe you have been discriminated against at work? Be sure you know exactly what legal options you have.