Fake Cover Letters Expose Discrimination Against Disabled

http://goo.gl/pC0Q20

The researchers, who sent résumés and cover letters on behalf of fictitious candidates for thousands of accounting jobs, found that employers expressed interest in candidates who disclosed a disability about 26 percent less frequently than in candidates who did not.

“I don’t think we were astounded by the fact that there were fewer expressions of interest” for people with disabilities, said Lisa Schur, a Rutgers political scientist who was part of the research team. “But I don’t think we were expecting it to be as large.”

The sole variation among the otherwise identically qualified candidates appeared in the cover letters, which revealed a disability for some but not for others.