Ok, let me try again. :p The shorter "quickie" version for PLaw.

Actually I can understand both sides, as far as a private business owner goes. What if I owned a business, and an applicant simply "looked" shady and left me with a distrustful feeling, for whatever reason, but was otherwise qualified. Should I be able to choose not to hire him on that basis?

As far as the pregnant woman goes, I can understand the employer's concern, but I really don't think that there is much that can be done about it. My own daughter, being still a "newlywed", just got promoted, trained and relocated to another work location. She plans to hopefully get pregnant and have a baby within the next year or so. Of course, she didn't tell them that when she was interviewed, and they didn't ask. She does hope to quit to raise a child when the time comes. Naturally, I'm on her side, but I too can understand the employers position, after hiring/training her, only to have to do it again. Yet, this scenario is really a natural part of life.

One of my "true" stories was in the early seventies when I worked at an insurance company. They were hiring for an Insurance Adjuster. A man came to interview, my boss interviewed him. On the application, the question was asked, "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" Turns out the man was just released from prison serving time for statutory rape. The man no sooner walked out the door, and my boss threw his app in the trash and told us what occurred. Being an office of mostly woman, needless to say we felt comfortable that he did that, but was it discriminating??? The man served his time and was honest about it.

Let me add I think it's just as discriminating to hire someone simply because they "are" in a "minority" status as it is to hire someone because they are not a minority.

Why should it be so difficult to interview, and check former employers for work performance, ethics, etc. and base your decision on what's important, without letting any other factors come into play?

TIS