美国国家公共电台 NPR Are Job Ads Targeting Young Workers Breaking The Law?

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. The job market is hot right now, and businesses are scrambling¹ to find available workers. But worker advocates say age discrimination persists when it comes to recruitment and hiring. Several pending² legal cases are putting the spotlight³ on this issue, as NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE⁴: Linda Bradley's two decades at a call center came to an end when she was laid off about a year and a half ago. Since then, she's combed the Internet every day looking for jobs without much luck. Bradley is 45 and lives near Columbus, Ohio. Last year, someone at her union mentioned how recruiters often target online ads at younger candidates.

LINDA BRADLEY: I thought to myself, oh, that's why I wasn't seeing some of the ads that my daughter had seen on her Facebook.

NOGUCHI: Her daughter, who is 26, got hired right away. Bradley eventually took the only job she could land, making far less than before. She continues searching but feels disadvantaged.

BRADLEY: To have someone withhold⁵ something that you qualify for - and I'm sorry. I get emotional talking about it. And it's a struggle taking care of four children, not being able to have the same opportunities as everybody else.

NOGUCHI: Bradley is now a plaintiff in a suit filed by the Communications Workers of America against T-Mobile, Facebook and a host of other businesses. The suit alleges⁶ the companies discriminate⁷ by excluding older workers from seeing their ads. T-Mobile didn't respond to requests seeking comment on the case; Facebook also declined. But in a December blog post, Facebook's vice⁸ president of ads, Rob Goldman, defended the practice. He argued that tailoring ads is not illegal so long as the recruitment campaign overall is designed to reach all demographic groups. But Bradley says that's not what she observes.

BRADLEY: If I would've saw ads for employment, I would have definitely noticed them because I'm looking for employment.

NOGUCHI: Workplace civil rights law prohibits discrimination against workers 40 and older, yet worker advocates say recruiters sometimes exclude older workers by narrowing how and where they look for candidates. In addition to Bradley's suit, another recent case has challenged whether an employer can recruit exclusively on college campuses. Jody Calemine is chief of staff with the Communications Workers.

JODY CALEMINE: We see that this is one of the factors that keeps older workers out of the job market after a job loss.

NOGUCHI: Last month, Facebook signed a legally binding⁹ agreement pledging to stop allowing advertisers to exclude people based on race, nationality or sexual orientation¹⁰. But Calemine notes that did not include prohibitions¹¹ on exclusions¹² based on age.

CALEMINE: The agreement shows that they can fix the age discrimination issue very quickly, but they are resisting. And that is very perplexing.

NOGUCHI: Facebook allows users to click on a feature to see why they're seeing certain ads. Calemine says those disclosures are explicit¹³ about their target audience. One T-Mobile job he cites seeks 18 to 38-year-olds.

CALEMINE: My jaw¹⁴ dropped as I saw some of the ads we were able to uncover.

NOGUCHI: Calemine says targeted advertising¹⁵ - the profit engine for most sites - is a new frontier for discrimination.

CALEMINE: Their business relies on this microtargeting. The problem is microtargeting can be discrimination. Civil rights don't stop when you turn on your computer.

NOGUCHI: But making the case in court won't be easy. Laurie McCann is a lawyer for the AARP Foundation, a nonprofit fighting poverty among seniors.

LAURIE MCCANN: Hiring discrimination is very difficult to prove because the applicant¹⁶ is on the outside looking in.

NOGUCHI: She says, in these types of cases, the applicants¹⁷ aren't claiming the employer discriminated¹⁸ against them personally. Rather, McCann says, they're arguing the recruitment process itself has a discriminatory effect. That is, by targeting recruitment to younger people, employers end up excluding older job seekers. Whether that's a violation¹⁹ of law, McCann says, is the question.

MCCANN: The issue is whether or not workers can even get into the courthouse door to challenge that practice that clearly screens out older workers.

NOGUCHI: That's the legal hurdle²⁰ Dale Kleber must clear. Kleber is 62, a lawyer and former executive at a Fortune 500 company living just outside Chicago. Three years ago, he applied²¹ for a legal job with medical technology firm CareFusion. The posting specified²² it was looking for candidates with three to seven years of experience but no more than seven. Kleber applied anyway, was rejected, then sued.

DALE KLEBER: I thought that was blatantly²³ discriminatory. Most people who are 40 years or older had been a lawyer for more than seven years.

NOGUCHI: In April, a three-judge panel on a federal appeals court ruled in Kleber's favor. They said the law protects applicants like Kleber. But the case remains²⁴ in limbo²⁵. CareFusion, which is now owned by another company, is appealing the decision. In a statement, the company denies its policies discriminate. But Kleber takes issue with the company's defense²⁶.

KLEBER: The response that the company gave was, well, Mr. Kleber was overqualified. And, frankly²⁷, I think that's a code word really for age discrimination.

NOGUCHI: The case will be reheard by the full 7th Circuit Appeals Court in November. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

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1 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

3 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 withhold   

v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡

参考例句：

• It was unscrupulous of their lawyer to withhold evidence.他们的律师隐瞒证据是不道德的。
• I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation.我忍不住要发泄一点我的愤怒。

6 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

7 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

10 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

11 prohibitions   

禁令，禁律( prohibition的名词复数 )； 禁酒； 禁例

参考例句：

• Nowadays NO PARKING is the most ubiquitous of prohibitions. 今天，“NO PARKING”（禁止停车），几乎成了到处可见的禁止用语了。
• Inappropriate, excessive or capricious administration of aversive stimulation has led to scandals, lawsuits and prohibitions. 不恰当的、过度的或随意滥用厌恶性刺激会引起人们的反感、控告与抵制。

12 exclusions   

n.不包括的项目：如接受服务项目是由投保以前已患有的疾病或伤害引致的，保险公司有权拒绝支付。；拒绝( exclusion的名词复数 )；排除；被排斥在外的人（或事物）；排外主义

参考例句：

• This is a trifle compared with the important exclusions. 比之其它重要的排除，这只是一件小事。 来自辞典例句
• For detailed exclusions, please refer to each policy's terms and conditions. 具体的免赔责任请详见条款。 来自互联网

13 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

14 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

15 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

16 applicant   

n.申请人，求职者，请求者

参考例句：

• He was the hundredth applicant for the job. 他是第100个申请这项工作的人。
• In my estimation, the applicant is well qualified for this job. 据我看, 这位应征者完全具备这项工作的条件。

17 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

18 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

19 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

20 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

21 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

22 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

23 blatantly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• Safety guidelines had been blatantly ignored. 安全规章被公然置之不顾。
• They walked grandly through the lobby, blatantly arm in arm, pretending they were not defeated. 他们大大方方地穿过门厅，故意炫耀地挎着胳膊，假装他们没有被打败。

24 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

25 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

26 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

27 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。