Jessica Algood is a receipent of a phone call after completing her third interview with 1-800-PACK-RAT. The phone call is from Melissa Branch, Customer Call Center Manager, from 1-800-PACK-RAT, and she offers a position in the call center to Jessica with a tentative start date of November 28, 2011.Melissa Branch was waiting on the corporate office to provide an offer letter for a firm start date, and the delay was a corporate issue in a reassurance to Jessica. Melissa Branch did inform Jessica of her absence from work during the Thanksgiving holiday, and Melissa did promise to follow up with Jessica upon her return to the office on the last correspondence dated on November 25, 2011. Jessica did receive a response from Melissa Branch on Tuesday, November 30. Melissa Branch did state in the following e-mail,

​Hey Jessica,I apologize that I have not gotten back to you sooner. I fully expected to get you an offer letter, however, the Corporate office has informed me that I can not offer you a position within packrat at this time. The concern is the break in the employment. The polices require someone who has had no breaks in employment. I am so sorry. I was not aware of their policy. I wish you the best of luck!!

Jessica’s could not believe the time investment and resources to successfully complete three interviews with five executives of 1-800-PACK-RAT. The initial resume/cover letter did disclose the employment gap  from the death of her children’s father after resigning  her ten year tenure of working with Siemens. Jessica is experiencing a discrimination that is silent but acceptable practice in more organizations throughout America. The impact of this type of discrimination is the eventual acceptance of discrimination  in the workplace that will undo all the progress of the last 150 years. The e-mail provides insight to organizations like 1-800-PACK-RAT to the dirty underbelly of corporate America in a less than stellar job market.

In review of the application process, Jessica Algood’s application was the not formal application as used in most application procedures by most American companies. The formal application of name, address, social security number, or disclosure of background check or hiring practices of the company was not used in Jessica’s application process with 1-800-PACK-RAT. The internet has negated the application process for many companies, and the job posting for 1-800-PACK-RAT was posted on Craigslist. The advertisement did state an updated resume along with a cover letter would be acceptable credentials for consideration of the position with 1-800-PACK-RAT. Jessica did submit her credentials by responding to the advertisement on Craigslist with her resume and enclosed cover letter. Several facts were prevalent on the resume and cover letter in submittable to 1-800-PACK. First, her eight year employment history with Siemens as her most recent employment. Second, a disclosure stating a recent employment gap in the enclosed cover letter. Third, a name, address, phone contact, and e-mail contact were included in both the resume and cover letter, but Jessica’s date of birth, social security number, or driver’s license information was provided at anytime to 1-800-PACK-RAT. Jessica was contacted for three interviews with 1-800-PACK-RAT, and the third interview would put forth a series of events including a job offer and the offer being rescinded.  1-800-PACK-RAT will not provide alternative reasons outside the employment gap to rescind the job offer. Multiple attempts were made to discuss the matter with the representatives of 1-800-PACK-RAT by  Jessica Algood and the Examiner.com.

Furthermore, Jessica did bring a stable employment history as a ten year veteran with Siemens, volunteer work with theHumane Society, valid family reasons including death and illness for the recent employment gap, and very positive response from the references provided by Jessica upon offer. The company did not obtain the necessary to conduct a background or credit check, and Jessica did successful complete the entire interview process to be considered. The lack of response by 1-800-PACK-RAT has been consistent in the inability to provide any other reasons for rescinded the job offer other than Jessica’s employment gap. Should 1-800-PACK RAT be open in full disclosure to proudly state the policy on active discrimination practices by the company to the unemployed.  Is it ethical for a company to be silent  at the expense of the unemployed to protect the company’s acceptance of discrimination  to negate exposure? How can a company be trusted in business when it cannot be trusted in conducting ethical hiring practices ?

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Written by : Donny Wise  donny-wise.com

Examiner.com: National Unemployment Columnist and Examiner

Personal responsibility can only control many factors in an individual’s life. A recession is a factor out of control of the average day American worker, and the responsibility does fall on the executives in control of managing the business unit and environment properly to survive any downturns in the economy. The 2008 economic crisis will be viewed as a historical turning point in American society as 9/11 was for the country. 9/11 did change our free society into a negated society in lieu of national security, and 2008 may be viewed by many historians as the American loss of humanity in the plight of the unemployed. The redundant talk of pundits is the same on many news shows and business networks in describing the unemployed. The words lazy, unreliable, and lost skill-set are all used to describe the unemployed in America, and the reality is these words are a nice deflector to describe the situation of the unemployed in our country as hard core discrimination. Many corporations are silently or publicly searching for candidates that are currently employed without regards to employment history, character, or circumstances beyond one’s control. This practice is nothing more than raw discrimination, and one is allowed to discriminate against one group; one will discriminate against everyone including race, religion, sexual orientation, or any characteristic outside the acceptable mainstream. These actions are a dangerous precedent in society, and we are about to permanently reintroduce an evil into American society that is better left buried in our historical past.

In view of the truth, the hiring practices against unemployed candidates by executive mandate or corporate policy is discrimination. Any executive has a desire to defend this policy in repeating the same descriptors of lazy, unreliable, or lost skill should look no further than Wikipedia online. The definition is as follows:

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group

The prejudice is that all unemployed people are not of good character according to the executive management with certain corporations, but the reality is that the unemployed are the unwanted. The executives are now the embodiment of entitlement as the judge of character in determining any candidates with an employment gap are not eligible for employment. The question can be brought to the table in whether these same executives in the persecution of additional suffering to over 14 million unemployed individuals are the same executives who before the 2008; were the same cronies that lived ” profits over people” in creating a stagnant wage environment, outsourcing American jobs, and the rise of mediocrity in the workplace to contribute to the economic mess the country faces in the current day? Executive Management may have been fired from last employer or slid through the crisis, but the entitlement mentality of many executives is landing on the other side will be in the same or lateral position as an executive or decision maker. The concept of being fired due to an economic downturn or performance is the exception not the rule in the elite class of leadership. These executives do not understand unemployment, and they found away to be gainfully employed or entitled to always keep the same positions internally or at an external employer. Many may believe the stated criticism is harsh against the business community, and the executive will not be offended in reviewing the analysis when the moral principles of ethics and values are being upheld. The executive leader is not a supernatural human being, and does not have the moral authority to discriminate against any group in the society, and anyone acting as a judge of character by one event in a record should be willing to openly admit discrimination practices to the American public. The consequence would be bankruptcy for many companies ad the public would refuse to embrace an immoral behavior in society and spend money elsewhere. When is the last television commercial on the air stating that X company discriminates ? The answer is none because the consequences of the action would collapse the revenue generation of the organization because it is unacceptable in American society for a company to discriminate.

In the post 2008 crisis, the unemployed are the unwanted in companies employing methods of silent discrimination practices to keep hidden from the general public the true nature of the companies’ hiring practices. Two organizations have implemented all new hires must receive final approve from senior or executive management before the start date of the new hire. The review of management is a search for one item on the applicant’s employment record. An employment gap or unemployed status on the application or resume without inquiry into the employment gap or regards of qualifications. Dillard’s Department Store and 1-800-PACK-RAT are companies are employing tactics to insure no applicants can be hired with any employment gap on record. Both companies are so focused to insure this policy that both businesses are risking reputation and revenue in the silent implementation of the policy.

First, Dillard’s management has anonymously disclosed to the Examiner.com that their staffing shortage is so significant that customer service is minimal and employee moral is poor due to instability in scheduling. Dillard’s does not public advertise positions as competitor Macy’s because Dillard’s quietly employs a recruitment method using currently associates to actively recruit from other retail stores in social interactions during personal time. The strategic recruitment tool by Dillard’s employ a series of statements or questions to probe into the introduction of Dillard’s to the potential candidate. The candidate may inform the associate of an employment gap, and the associate must proceed with the entire application process and interview process to be transparent that the outcome is pre-determined as ineligible. The applicant is unaware of the policy, and proceeds in good faith that previous experience and character is qualities to become an associate at Dillard’s. The applicant spent limited time and resources into a position that was pre-determined with no disclosure of the policy to make the decision to attend a Macy’s job fair instead of a suggested path by an associate of Dillard’s to be ineligible for employment as discrimination triumphs reality at Dillard’s.

The second company is 1-800-PACK-RAT, and the decision was made to rescind employment to a ten year veteran ofSiemens and mother due to an employment gap, and the notification was sent by e-mail. The employment gap was a result of her father’s children being killed in an accident and left her sick daughter without a caretaker. She resigned to handle these family matters, but her qualifications and background check was unbelievable. The applicant was offered a position by phone only five minutes after the third interview with five employees of 1-800-PACK-RAT including a Vice-President. The applicant did include in the cover letter the employment gap, and 1-800-PACK-RAT could not disqualify the applicant on previous work experience, interview performance, qualifications, or references. The applicant was impeccable except the employment gap on applicant’s record, and the applicant’s start date was postponed due to a corporate issue the applicant was informed. Then, two days did pass, and the applicant receives an e-mail that the offer was rescinded to an employment gap, and corporate policy states employment gaps negate eligibility for employment with 1-800-PACK-RAT. The corporate issue was the Chief Executive Officer must approve every new hire at 1-800-PACK-RAT, and this decision came the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to this applicant before the Christmas holiday.

The reality is these practices cross a moral threshold into radical discrimination to a group of 14 million unemployed citizens of the United States. The hiring practices against the unemployed will have negative consequences that will reverse all progress in the areas of discrimination and equal protections for minorities in America. The corporations use of adjectives as lazy, unreliable, and lost skill set to describe the unemployed are employing a cover tactic to cover the practice of legal discrimination in companies’ hiring practices. The same tactic was used in analogies of race in the past to deflect the word discrimination, and that is an evil that should be buried in the past with no room for existence in a 21st Century America.

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