It is often said that it is easier to find a job when you have a job. This has become increasingly true in today’s economic downturn.

According to the Sun Sentinel, a study conducted by the National Employment Law Project revealed that the Project discovered over 150 job ads that excluded job seekers who are currently unemployed. These ads appeared on various websites including the web’s large online job databases, CareerBuilder, Indeed, Monster, and Craigslist. Most of the ads listed employment status as a qualification, with a statement such as “must be currently employed”. Employment status is being treated like other more expected qualifications like a bachelor’s degree or a certification.

Employers may feel that employment status is an indicator of an applicant’s willingness to work, skills, and abilities. While this may have been true in the past, today there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to work, but cannot find a job based on the sheer fact that every job has hundreds of applicants. The odds are not in job seekers’ favor.

Since many workers were laid off through no fault of their own as a result of the recession, a lot of qualified applicants are currently not working. With unemployment discrimination, it is making it more difficult for these employees to find work again based on preconceived notions about their abilities and work ethic. Discrimination laws are designed to protect stereotypes like these.

At the federal level, legislation has been introduced to protect unemployed workers from discrimination. The law would prohibit employers from refusing to hire applicants based on their employment status. U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Henry Johnson, Jr., D-Ga. Introduced the "Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011".

If this legislation is passed, unemployment discrimination will join the ranks of race, age, disability, sex, national origin and religion discrimination and prohibit employers from using unemployment status in the hiring process.