Big Retail Companies Require Job Applicants To Disclose Their Age

Ruth Lyons, 59, was born on April 28, 1951. But after two and a half years of not even being able to get an interview for a job, she decided that her new "job application birthday" was going to be March 19, 1969 -- just as an experiment.

"They're asking for your Social Security number and date of birth on applications now, which I don't think they have a right to do unless they're hiring you, and you don't have the option of not filling them in," she told HuffPost. "You either fill them in right, or you lie, and I'm all for lying."

Several of the nation's biggest employers, including Target, Kroger and Home Depot, require job applicants to disclose their date of birth in the online application, a practice that employment discrimination lawyers say seems a little fishy.

"It's not per se discrimination to ask for your date of birth or age or some other age-identifying information on a job application, but when there's a claim that EEOC's investigating, we're going to closely scrutinize what we see on the form," said Ray Peeler, a senior attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "It definitely makes the EEOC look a little harder at what's going on."

Kroger's online application says that a candidate's birthday is used "to ensure compliance with laws and regulations governing the employment of minors or establishing age requirements for certain tasks," and that the age of anyone 21 years old or older "will not be seen by the hiring manager." Human resources representatives at Target and Home Depot told HuffPost an applicant's age is only used for the purpose of background checks after the person has been hired.

But Susan Heathfield, a human resources expert who regularly writes and consults on hiring issues, said a company should never ask for a person's specific age or Social Security number until after that person is hired.

"I am stunned to hear that they're asking for people's ages in applications," she told HuffPost. "They should know better. As an employer, you do not want to put yourself in a position where anything you do could be conceivably discriminatory."

Older workers, especially those that have been out of work for any significant period of time, are having an increasingly difficult time landing jobs in the recession because employers have their pick of younger candidates. A recent Pew report found that those who are older than 55 are most likely to remain jobless for a year or more, and the number and percentage of age discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have grown noticeably since 2006, rising from 16,548 charges, or 21.8 percent of all such EEOC filings, to 22,778, or 24.4 percent, in fiscal year 2009.

"Some older employees just look old," Heathfield said. "And it's so darn subtle -- an older person can come in for an interview and not get the job, and they'll be informed that a more qualified candidate was hired. They'll never know or be able to prove that two or three people on that committee kept thinking, 'This person's really old.' I'd hate to be looking for a job right now, truthfully."

Heathfield said that while she wouldn't recommend lying about one's age on a job application, she believes there are other ways to avoid filling in a date of birth or Social Security number.

"I usually tell people, 'Write in all zeros, and say in the written section that you'll be happy to supply those numbers if your application reaches the point of a background check,'" she said.

Lyons believes lying about her age helped her land a job. She says she applied to work at a local retail store a handful of times since being laid off from her job as a florist in September 2008, but never heard back from them until she filled out an application with her fake birthday.

"I lied to get past 'Go' and got past 'Go,' and then it was my experience and winning personality that took me the rest of the way," said Lyons, who landed the job on the spot. "It may be a fluke, but it worked for me!"

Brad Shannon contributed reporting.

Comments

[MelanieShebel]

01:44 AM on 03/04/2011

I can believe this. The unicru job application actually asks for a full birthday!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Unicru

It's really sickening the types of questions that are asked not only by Unicru, but by a growing number of other companies who handle applications for employment... including the employers who handle their own apps!

[yukonsam]

12:47 PM on 03/03/2011

If pushed to disclose my age, I might comply. But I reserve the right to communicate it in base 12. If they want it in base 10, they need to be more specific.

[kritiktwee]

11:46 AM on 03/03/2011

I have seen 72 year person getting the job with ease.
Those companies that have problem with age 55 or 59 is just not right.
Most Americans are fit both physically and mentally at this age, so what gives.
Many people that are now 50 years old will start worrying about their future.
Many of the jobs dont have retirement benefits, or contributory retirement benefits.
On the one hand there is controversial talk of upping the SSI age from 62 to 65 and on the other hand there is this new hiring dilemma.
There are just too many problems created nowadays, instead of making work-enjoyable-conditions. A worried worker is not necessarily a productive worker, a good example is : often times the company has meetings to tell the staff that there is a rumor going on for x status in the companies upper level shuffle or the company is in a bid for hostile takeover, if anyone hears about it, to contact the HR. I believe after job pay, the next most important feature an employee is looking for is job security.

[jo smith456]

09:52 AM on 03/03/2011

I'm not surprised if job applicants give false information... ("just to get a job"). Perhaps, "illegal" but "justifiable"...

[jo smith456]

09:50 AM on 03/03/2011

THIS IS BAD. Many unemployed are DOUBLY screwed.

Shame.

[GirlInNYC]

09:31 PM on 03/02/2011

Other creative ways of fishing for non-old people: "Recent college graduates." And you know they do not mean adult students. They mean traditionally aged recent grads. And finally, LOW PAY. So for a job that adults expect to make about $50/hr. for, they'll offer $13/hr. Or for a $70k salaried profession, they will offer $35k.

They are seeking CHILDREN. Not adults with responsibilities.

[seiedvard]

05:18 PM on 03/02/2011

I have had to give this very information on almost every single job application I have ever filled out.
How else does anyone know who they are hiring?
If you are able to give a false birthday, then why not a false name ect....
Strange article

[Allias Jones]

04:15 PM on 03/02/2011

We should all be REPORTING THIS EVERY time we see it, to the EEOC, and perhaps hire an attorney to sue them. EEOC, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

[spoonbill1963]

11:43 AM on 03/03/2011

Sure, more law suits. Just what we need to push more jobs overseas.

[Allias Jones]

04:14 PM on 03/02/2011

Big lies, they want the age because they have contracts, with their insurance companies NOT TO HIRE people of a certain age. The age limit is probably about 40 years tops. Otherwise their insurance rates go up. Just one more way that the HC bill does not have enough teeth. There is a reason it needed 2000 pages. To include in every sentence that they couldn't discriminate based on sex, age, pre-existing conditions and/or raise rates because of those discriminatory criteria. Just one more way corporate America is telling Americans to bend over.

[spoonbill1963]

12:59 PM on 03/02/2011

As I read all these comments I've come to the conclusion that any company who hires even one person is opening itself up to a law suit. Either they hire a young person and an old person sues..or they hire a Hispanic and a black person sues....or they hire a thin person and a fat person sues....or they hire a healthy person and a handicap person sues.
Are you getting my drift?
Maybe this is why jobs go overseas.

[Pleasedontdelete]

12:59 PM on 03/02/2011

They have you by the balls!
If it's ever found out that you lied on your original application, you will be terminated for falsification.

Also, it is illegal in many states to ask ANY question regarding age, race, or sex on the application or during the interview process.
"Are you at least 18 years of age" is the appropriate way to discern legality to work, and these employers know that!

Applying for a job on line is kind of a waste of time. Start making phone calls, and making contacts.

Another practice that should be under scrutiny, is the 2-3 hour "test" that some companies include as part of the on-line application process. Wasting time on these test, when you had no chance of getting the job in the first place seems just wrong.

I actually called a regional manager while posing as a customer just to ask them a few of the "test" questions, and as expected, they were unable answer any of them, and seemed genuinely surprised that such questions were part of the application process.

BY THE BALLS!

[bmike]

11:50 AM on 03/02/2011

ss number also identify race

[joyf1]

01:09 AM on 03/03/2011

What?

[SpyvsSpy]

11:13 AM on 03/02/2011

Anyone who believes that a large employer will not abuse personal information to their own ends should go back to Mars. This is just another example of business worming their way under the skin of their employees with the blessing of our government.

[kathismom]

10:28 AM on 03/02/2011

This makes me sad. Sad that someone had to lie to get an interview and sad that from what I'm reading it's prevalent. You meet the same people on the way up as on the way down, how you treat them at first meeting is going to affect how you treat them on the way down.

[Allias Jones]

04:26 PM on 03/02/2011

Class action lawsuit

[montn2]

10:26 AM on 03/02/2011

Retired now, but during my career, hired several hundred people. We were absolutely not allowed to ask for age info -- nor SS- Not until AFTER the person was hired and on board with the company. We were able to sort of guess a person's age by the graduation dates from colleges. Something is definitely amiss here.