[Spirochete]

Illiterate. In this day and age, really?

My company had a big problem with workers unable to read hazmat safety precautions and MSDS sheets. All of the applicants are now screened for literacy. On testing day, about five applicants will remain to complete the hiring process from a pool of 15 - 20. Most of them are black.

[Second Amendment First]

Don’t be surprised if a literacy test in the near future is deemed discriminatory, for just that reason.

Several companies are currently being sued by the NLRB for asking about arrests on their applications because of higher arrest rates for blacks.

[Nepeta]

My company had a big problem with workers unable to read hazmat safety precautions and MSDS sheets. All of the applicants are now screened for literacy. On testing day, about five applicants will remain to complete the hiring process from a pool of 15 - 20. Most of them are black.

This sounds familiar. I worked at a chemical plant that used to hand out job applications and allowed people to take them home to fill out. Then they discovered the illiterates were having other people fill them out.

One of the engineers said he used a pack of brightly printed flower stickers to communicates hazards to the illiterates who slipped through.

This was a dangerous operation; everyone was trained to use self-contained breathing air. Fires were commonplace. Knowing how witless many of the workers were did not leave one with a warm and fuzzy feeling. At the beginning of one short-handed shift, two of the engineers discussed going to the city jail and bailing out enough of the workers to fill out a shift.