Another federal money pit which has outlived its usefulness. You know you’ve jumped the shark and have nothing left to do when you start to say that requiring a high school diploma as a job qualification is discriminatory…

Employers are facing more uncertainty in the wake of a letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warning them that requiring a high school diploma from a job applicant might violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The development also has some wondering whether the agency’s advice will result in an educational backlash by creating less of an incentive for some high school students to graduate.

The “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC said an employer’s requirement of a high school diploma, long a standard criterion for screening potential employees, must be “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.” The letter was posted on the commission’s website on Dec. 2.

Employers could run afoul of the ADA if their requirement of a high school diploma “‘screens out’ an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of ‘disability,’” the EEOC explained.

Every state in the country has a Department of Labor or some other agency capable of regulating job discrimination. And there are courts all over the country in which might be found judges and juries to adjudicate employment disputes.

Is there any justification at this point which might be made for a continued existence of the EEOC? Our commenters are welcome to provide one; we certainly can’t after seeing them attempt to tell employers they can’t screen out high school dropouts. Once that’s done is there any qualification an employer can impose upon a hire? And won’t employers just forget about trying to hire non-essential personnel in the first place?

At some point the EEOC will make it so equality of employment opportunities is absolute. Y’know what the best way to do that is?

Nobody gets a job.