On February 24^th, we recapped our numerous blogs where we wrote that under existing anti-discrimination laws, there is no protected class known as “the unemployed,” and if you are not hired because of your unemployment status, you have no actionable claim of discrimination. Blogs of 9/14/11; 6/8/11; 2/22/11  This is changing rapidly. 

We cited a WSJ article which reported that more than a dozen states are following the lead of New Jersey and seeking to pass legislation that would include "the unemployed" within the class protected against employment discrimination. 

We can now report that a California assembly committee will consider such a bill next week, and that both houses of the Oregon legislature have approved such a bill which purportedly mirrors the New Jersey law, and is patterned after the President’s American Jobs Act bill.