A complaint filed with the State Division of Human Rights by the American Jewish Congress has caused a New York insurance company to change its employment application form to criminate any references to religion, the AJCongress reported today. The company was not identified. The complaint filed by Herman Brown, director of the Congress’ Metropolitan Council, charged the company with discrimination in its use of an employment form which asked: “If you are dangerously hurt or ill would you want us to call a Protestant minister, priest, rabbi?” At a subsequent investigative conference of the State Division of Human Rights, a spokesman for the insurance company noted that the challenged question was to be filled out only “If employed” and was intended to benefit all employees. Stating that the employment form was a carryover from a predecessor company, he agreed with the Human Rights Division’s assertion that it might be confusing because questions to be answered after the applicant was hired were on the same form as the pre-employment inquiries. The investigation brought to light other violations of the State Human Rights Law and the State Division offered its services in drafting a new employment form which the company accepted.
CORRECTION: In the second paragraph of the first story on Page 3 of the JTA Bulletin dated July 26, the date of U Thant’s visit to Moscow should be June 14, 1970, not 1971.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
