UPDATED AND CORRECTED

The Connecticut Senate this afternoon voted 30-5 to ban employers and employment agencies from discriminating against the unemployed in job advertisements.

As recapped by the Office of Legislative Analysis, “This bill makes it a discriminatory employment practice to advertise employment opportunities in a way that discriminates against anyone because he or she is unemployed, unless there is a bona fide occupational qualification or need. The bill applies to people, employers, employment agencies, and labor organizations advertising such opportunities.”

That’s a far cry from an earlier proposal that would have banned employers from discriminating against the unemployed in making hiring decisions.  But it still goes further than some had hoped.

The bill, which would become effective October 1, 2012, if passed by the House and signed by the Governor, states:

(6) For any person, employer, employment agency or labor organization, except in the case of a bona fide occupational qualification or need, to advertise employment opportunities in such a manner as to restrict such employment so as to discriminate against [individualsany individual because (A) of [their] such individual’s race, color, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, intellectual disability, learning disability or physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness, or (B) such individual is unemployed;

The bill now moves onto the House, where the prospects for a vote are uncertain. With a week away from the close of the session, stay tuned for lots of developments.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post referred to an amendment; that amendment did not pass.