As reported by ere.net, requiring a high school diploma as a job requirement may be deemed as discriminatory by the EEOC.
According to the information posted to the EEOC’s website:
“If an employer adopts a high school diploma requirement for a job, and that requirement “screens out” an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of “disability,” the employer may not apply the standard unless it can demonstrate that the diploma requirement is job related and consistent with business necessity.”
There seems to be a lot of confusion on this matter, and an informal discussion letter does not necessarily mean that the official policy is going to be changed. However the staffing firms that I have talked to are going to proactively stop requiring a high school diploma for lower level jobs.
At the very least, staffing firms and employers need to be cognizant of whether posted education requirements fall in line with job duties.