New York SBDC Research Network

Sometimes employment discrimination is obvious; for example, a particularly bigoted manager or supervisor may use racial slurs or explicitly admit to discriminatory intent. Those cases are rare, however. More often than not it is much harder to prove employment discrimination because employers who want to discriminate have become quite good at hiding their intentions. One trick these employers use is using coded language in their job postings. They list job qualifications that are a pretext for eliminating certain job candidates. This is particularly common when it comes to age discrimination. "Digital Native" and "Recent Graduate" Can be Code for "Young" More from Payscale

 The U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposal to clarify federal contractors' requirements to prohibit sex discrimination. The recommended changes would revise the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' guidelines to align with laws, court decisions and societal changes since they were originally issued in 1970. "Our sex discrimination guidelines are woefully out of date and don't reflect established law or the reality of modern workplaces," said OFCCP Director  Patricia A. Shiu . "We owe it to the working women of America — and their families — to fix this regulatory anachronism so there is no confusion about how federal contractors must comply with their equal opportunity obligations."