If You’re Black And Apply Remotely For A Job, Maybe Call Yourself “John Jebrowski”

That’s just what Dwight Jackson, a 27-year-old Black man, did after he received no response when he applied online for multiple jobs at a luxury hotel, and for which he claims he was “eminently qualified” – he changed the name on his resume.  He “applied again, making one significant change to his application — his name.”  His name became John Jebrowski, “a more readily apparent Caucasian name.” 

And guess what?  He was “offered multiple interviews within the same week.”

And now he has filed a discrimination lawsuit under state law in Michigan.

According to his counsel, “Jackson attended the job interview and … revealed his real identity and expressed his belief that he was not given an interview initially because his name appeared more traditionally African American.”  His lawsuit states that “Shortly after Jackson underwent the interview process, he was informed that he was no longer a viable candidate for the position.”

The outlet that reported this story noted that this is not a one-off situation, but very prevalent:

“A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that name bias is a prevalent issue in the hiring process. Researchers sent out identical resumes to 108 U.S. employers to analyze whether race and gender affected callback rates for job applications. Resumes with Black male and Black female names received the fewest callbacks.”

Takeaway

Besides the fact that racial bias still exists, employers must realize that remote applications that are either reviewed by human eyes or by a software algorithm must be treated as if the applicant was interviewed in person - an employer cannot hide behind the remote process to discriminate in hiring. 

An employer cannot discriminate against applicants by refusing to interview or hire them if they have a name stereotypically used by one race (“name bias)” or reside in a zip code area in which certain races disproportionately reside.

Hard to prove discrimination, perhaps.  But you still don’t want to end up in a lawsuit.