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  3. U.S. employers are anticipating a rise in workplace discrimination claims based on their own hiring policies. Employment law fir

U.S. employers are anticipating a rise in workplace discrimination claims based on their own hiring policies. Employment law fir

admin2016-01-29  31
问题     U.S. employers are anticipating a rise in workplace discrimination claims based on their own hiring policies. Employment law firm Littler Mendelson asked 500 representatives of companies with both small and large market capitalizations about their deepest legal anxieties this year. Fifty-seven percent said they expected an increase in discrimination claims because of their interest in an applicant’s criminal history—the companies’ top concern when asked about the enforcement efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC).
    A growing number of states have adopted laws that prevent employers from asking on job applications whether applicants have a criminal record. Thirty percent of the employers surveyed by Littler Mendelson said they had removed such questions from their applications. An additional 40 percent said they are hiring contractors to do background checks for them. The report suggested that this strategy may be risky because people are filing a growing number of lawsuits tied to third-party investigations of criminal history and seeking class action status. "This trend will not slow down soon," the report said.
    Still, this year’s respondents were less likely than last year’s to say that they expect an increase in over discrimination claims.
    The employers’ second-biggest concern is potential claims over equal pay and the treatment of workers based on their sexuality, age, and disabilities. Employers seemed especially confused as to how to run employee wellness programs without getting into trouble for discriminating against disabled people.
    The programs generally offer incentives to employees who hit health or fitness benchmarks and are encouraged by the Affordable Care Act. Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued several companies for programs that it charged were unfair to workers with disabilities. Overall, companies said they were having fewer problems with the new health-care law than in previous years; one-third said they were anxious about implementing Obamacare, down from 64 percent in 2012.
    The timing of the survey may have played a role in employers’ concerns. The poll was conducted in April and May, when the Supreme Court hadn’t yet ruled in favor of gay marriage. Forty-seven percent of companies said they already had rules protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers, but 20 percent said they were either waiting on the court’s decision to expand their regulations or had no policies in place.
    Getting nailed by the National Labor Relations Board for the working conditions of subcontractors is a further concern. As federal and state authorities continue to scrutinize company decisions as to who counts as an employee, most employers surveyed said they had taken some action to mitigate potential legal challenges, such as auditing independent contractors. Thirty percent said they had made no changes to policies.
    A growing share of C-suite executives and human resources professionals—17 percent—said they expected to "hire aggressively" this year. Compared with previous years, companies were also less likely to say they had unhappy employees staying in their jobs because there were no alternatives, or that people were stuck in jobs that didn’t make good use of their skills.
It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that "Obamacare" ______.
选项 A、is against employee wellness programs
B、causes more anxiety this year than in 2012
C、is the new health-care law mentioned in the same sentence
D、is favored by most of the companies surveyed
答案C
解析 推理题。定位到第五段最后一句：Overall，companies said they were having fewer problems with the new health—care law than in previous years；one—third said they were anxious aboutimplementing Obamacare．down from 64 percent in 2012．“受访公司表示他们在执行新的卫生保健法案过程中遇到的困难比去年少多了；有三分之一的公司表示，他们担忧奥巴马医改的实施情况，2012年64％的公司有这样的顾虑，与此相比已经减少很多。”第五段中出现Obam—acare一词，为“奥巴马医改”，知识涉猎广泛的人可能知道这一词的含义，但题目并非单一考查定义，而是与文章内容结合起来，考查推理的能力。根据两个分句间的联系，可以断定[C]符合题意。[A]选项原文中没有提及，故排除。[B]选项与原文内容恰好相反，故排除。[D]选项与原文表述不一致，第五段最后一句只说“三分之一的人担忧奥巴马医改的实施”，但是并不表明另外三分之二的人就支持，可排除。
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