Age/Veteran Discrimination

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UOP_Employee

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To whom it may concern:

After recently graduating with an MBA degree in public administration. I began to send out resume's to job vacancies in my previous career field, i.e. city administration. Prior to receiving my MBA, I never had a problem obtaining an interview with a potential city; however, over the past 5 months I have not been offered an initial interview. I feel my resume is stronger than ever with my advanced degree, but now I am beginning to question a number of things.

My first concern is my work references. I'm a little concerned that maybe an effort or conspiracy among previous employer's has inched into my job search. Is this possible? If so, can I have a general cease and desist order drawn up and sent to each of these previous employers. Can the letter only require them to verify my dates of employment?

My second concern is with my current organization. My current organization does not have the best track record in human resources compliance. Since receiving my degree, I have started the process of applying for all jobs in the organization in which I feel that I am qualified. I have been logging each application, email, and correspondence from a denial for a position. I know that it has been said that the university has an unmentioned policy of only hiring under 40 management personal for business reasons. If so, is this practice age discrimination? As an insider, I know that in my division the company has NO ONE over the age of 40 employed in a management position. I also believe that reverse gender discrimination exists as well.

I know that age and gender discrimination is very hard to prove, but if the statistics show a dominant pattern in hiring and promoting of younger and/or opposite gender doesn't this demononstrate a practice and even an illegal practice? Couldn't this be evaluated something similar to Affirmative Action statistics?

I am really interested in your views, because I'm preparing to sue the company for these practices. While I continue to apply for jobs as a tool to build my case, I have also contacted our HR department and diversity office to keep them informed of my observations and the failed attempts of my advancement opportunities.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my ordeal. Your thoughts and viewpoints would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
UOP Employee
 
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To whom it may concern:

After recently graduating with an MBA degree in public administration. I began to send out resume's to job vacancies in my previous career field, i.e. city administration. Prior to receiving my MBA, I never had a problem obtaining an interview with a potential city; however, over the past 5 months I have not been offered an initial interview. I feel my resume is stronger than ever with my advanced degree, but now I am beginning to question a number of things.
Perhaps you are now over-qualified for the positions.
My first concern is my work references. I'm a little concerned that maybe an effort or conspiracy among previous employer's has inched into my job search. Is this possible? If so, can I have a general cease and desist order drawn up and sent to each of these previous employers. Can the letter only require them to verify my dates of employment?
I'm a little curious about why you think previous employers would mount a "conspiracy" against you. I am also curious about the things you imagine your previous employers are saying about you that you feel you need a cease and desist letter.
My second concern is with my current organization. My current organization does not have the best track record in human resources compliance. Since receiving my degree, I have started the process of applying for all jobs in the organization in which I feel that I am qualified. I have been logging each application, email, and correspondence from a denial for a position. I know that it has been said that the university has an unmentioned policy of only hiring under 40 management personal for business reasons. If so, is this practice age discrimination? As an insider, I know that in my division the company has NO ONE over the age of 40 employed in a management position. I also believe that reverse gender discrimination exists as well.
Can you prove that all the under-40s are less qualified than over-40s who applied for the positions. Do you even know who applied for those jobs?
I know that age and gender discrimination is very hard to prove, but if the statistics show a dominant pattern in hiring and promoting of younger and/or opposite gender doesn't this demononstrate a practice and even an illegal practice? Couldn't this be evaluated something similar to Affirmative Action statistics?

I am really interested in your views, because I'm preparing to sue the company for these practices. While I continue to apply for jobs as a tool to build my case, I have also contacted our HR department and diversity office to keep them informed of my observations and the failed attempts of my advancement opportunities.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my ordeal. Your thoughts and viewpoints would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
UOP Employee
Have you contacted the EEOC with your concerns yet?
 
Thank you for acknowledging my ordeal

Dear Irish223:

I will address your questions in the order in which you responded.

First, the concern for being over qualified is negligible. To me, this HR response has always been a 'NEUTERED' way of HR copping out of actually giving a reasonable and detailed explanation for going in another direction. I find it to be completely disrespectful to those candidates who applied. Plus, the positions that I am applying for require or request an advanced degree. Therefore, I believe that another set of circumstances exists in which I cannot get an initial interview.

Second, the Conspiracy Theory. For those who believe that an inner circle or network of calling employers between those individuals in a hiring capacity does not exist are ignorant. The practice occurs in the business world and government, but the ability for one individual to successfully litigate this matter in court is impossible due to the enormosity of the fight.

I am convinced that in my case a little 'weasel' is creating an issue for me. I believe I know where it is coming from, but I cannot prove it. I have come to this conclusion based on the following previous experience.

Previously, I was in a city administrator position when a sales rep stopped by my office. After a brief conversation, the sales rep left knowing the previous cities in which I served. Shortly after the sales rep's visit, I received a visit from the Mayor whom informed me that he received a call from one of my previous employee's. Apparently, the employee described me in a negative light to the Mayor and other individuals in my new organization.

Due to this experience and knowing the vindictive nature of some of my former employers/employee's from my work experiences with those individuals, I think that I have a reason to be concerned for potential employer's speaking with those individuals based on that experience. As a result of those experiences, I was wondering if a general cease and desist order could prevent this from occurring in the future.

Finally, the age/gender/veteran discrimination issue of my current employer. In response to your question about do I know who applied for the positions; I find the question to be somewhat humorous due to the simplicity of the answer. Obviously, an HR department will not release that information to an employee nor does an employee have a right to that information as stated by the HR department.

This is how the HR department has the employee over-a-barrel when an employee attempts to defend his or her qualifications and the fairness of the hiring/promotion process. Due to the ability for HR departments to cloak themselves with the 'privacy' defense, the opportunity for an employee to gather this information dies at the request point.

The only opportunity that I have to gather information in support of my accusations is during the interview process. In one case, I had a panel interview where all the selected candidates interviewed at the same time during a round robin of questioning. During this process, I was able to see in person the other candidates. The panel consisted of 8 individuals of whom 3 were males and 5 females. 1 of the 8 candidates was a minority. I was the oldest of the candidates at 44. In my best judgment, the remaining candidates were near or under the age of 30. (Background information: The total employment of the company exceeds 8,000 employees.)

In addition, I was the only candidate that had or would be completing an advanced degree. All the candidates had been employed with the company for approximately the same duration. The candidates also had very similar work backgrounds within the company; however, as far as management work experience not one candidate had a comparable work history to me.

After being notified that the position had been filled, I emailed the HR person to request information on the individual who was selected. The HR person responded with a standard response informing me that she could not release that information. Again, the cloaking device.

Now, I will move on to the structure of my own division. I currently work in the southeast division where a disproportionate number of the senior and lower management positions are Caucasian females under the age of 40.

Beginning at the top of our organization chart is our Online VP (Caucasian, female under 40), (2) Division VP's (2 Caucasian, female under 40), (4) Director of Student Services (3 Caucasian, female under 40 and 1 minority/Hispanic, female under 40), (1) Senior Academic Manager (Caucasian, female under 40), (7) Academic Managers (2 Caucasian, males under 40; 2 minority/(1) African American/(1) Hispanic females, under 40; 3 Caucasian, females under 40). Enrollment and Finance positions exist in the division; however, I do not have any information on the demographics of those positions. I do know all the individuals in those management positions and 1 is over the age of 40.

Statistical Breakdown:
Total Positions - (15)
Women under 40 - (13)
Women under 40/Caucasian - (10)
Women under 40/minority - (3)
Women over 40/Caucasian and minorities - (0)
Men under 40 - (2)
Men under 40/Caucasian - (2)
Men under 40/minority - (0)
Men over 40/Caucasian and minorities - (0)

Percentages:
Women under 40 - (86.6)
Women under 40/Caucasian - (66.6)
Women under 40/minority - (20.0)
Women over 40/Caucasian and minorities - (0)
Men under 40 - (13.3)
Men under 40/Caucasian - (13.3)
Men under 40/minority - (0)
Men over 40/Caucasian and minorities - (0)

Taking into account the number of employee's of the organization and the percentages of the statistical breakdown of the southeast division, the trend is overwhelmingly in favor to hire or promote Caucasian females under the age of 40. So much that the statistics far exceed the national averages and thus may be considered discriminatory. At the minimum, something that needs to be investigated by the organizations HR department, if not, the EEOE.

As an overall organization, the numbers may balance out; however, I am not privy to the information needed to complete a thorough statistical analysis for the entire organization. However, the statistics from the southeast division alone should draw enough concern to the organization that it is not a practice maintain throughout the entire organization. As such, the organization should take issue with those in the southeast senior management positions in light of this information.
 
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Is there a lawyer in the house that wants to take this challenge on?
Does receiving federal funds from students who attend the university require the university to follow a different set of employment laws? For example, Davis-Bacon.

I more numbers on my own that I will share in a couple of days. The breakdown will be staggering.

Thank you.
 
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