An entry from blogger Daniel J. Mitchell. There's nothing more to add...
My jaw is gaping with amazement once more at the hare-brained
political correctness that is infecting (or should I say infesting?) the
United Kingdom. A
story in
the Daily Mail states that a recruitment agency was told not to
advertise for “reliable” and “hard-working” people since that
discriminated against…well, people that aren’t reliable and hard
working. The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the the
bureaucracy in charge of such matters backed down to avoid public
ridicule, but the mere fact that this happened says a lot about what’s
happening across the pond – and what’s beginning to happen in America:
"When it comes to hiring staff, there are
plenty of legal pitfalls employers need to watch out for these days. So
recruitment agency boss Nicole Mamo was especially careful to ensure her
advert for hospital workers did not offend on grounds of race, age or
sexual orientation. However, she hadn’t reckoned on discriminating
against a wholly different section of the community – the completely
useless. When she ran the ad past a job centre, she was told she
couldn’t ask for ‘reliable’ and ‘hard-working’ applicants because it
could be offensive to unreliable people. ‘In my 15 years in recruitment I
haven’t heard anything so ridiculous,’ Mrs Mamo said yesterday. ‘If the
matter wasn’t so serious I would be laughing out loud. ‘Unfortunately
it’s extremely alarming. I need people who are hardworking and reliable –
and I am pleased to discriminate in that way. If they’re not then I
really can’t use them. The reputation of my business is on the line.
‘Even the woman at the jobcentre agreed it was ridiculous but explained
it was policy because they could get sued for being discriminatory
against unreliable people. …She filed the advert for a £5.80-an-hour
domestic cleaner at a hospital in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, through the
Jobcentre Plus online service last Thursday. However, when she rang the
nearest branch in Thetford, Norfolk, to make sure details would be
available to jobseekers who turned up in person, she was transferred to a
woman who said the wording was unacceptable."
Who knew? Just check out the following clip from my international blockbuster (well, except for the US and, I don't know, China) "Marching Out of Time". Apparently it's something of a cult hit in Germany.