2011 August | USAintel

Hiring managers and human resources personnel should know how to avoid discrimination when hiring. An article in the Tallahasee.com has more information:

“Most business owners don’t deliberately discriminate against people; they are more focused on getting the right person for the job quickly and efficiently. However, it is the unintentional discrimination caused by certain recruiting practices that can lead to legal claims.

Depending on the number of employees in your company, state and federal laws prohibit discrimination against “protected classes.” These classes include age (over 40), race, color, religion, national origin, gender, familial status, disability, veteran status and genetic information.

Pregnancy is also protected; there are county and city ordinances to be aware of as well. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the federal governing body and is responsible for monitoring claims.

Here are 5 suggestions to help you avoid the appearance of discrimination when recruiting.

• Review the employment application — Make sure the information requested is a requirement of the job. Avoid asking for information that might give the appearance of discriminating against protected classes. For example, if your application asks for the year of high school graduation, you’ll have an idea of that person’s age, which could raise the question of age discrimination.

• Keep decision makers separate from identifying documents — Businesses often need birthdates for background checks and larger businesses need to track information on protected classes for EEOC purposes. The EEOC recommends using separate forms the hiring manager won’t see to avoid the appearance of discrimination.

• Think twice about checking social media — Many recruiters are checking Facebook, Twitter or other sites hoping to find information not provided on the resume. However, this information can include race, family status, and pregnancy. Once you have that knowledge, it can’t be unknown.

• Be careful what you ask — Prepare interview questions before hand so you can avoid potentially discriminatory questions. “Do you have a car?” can have a greater adverse impact on minorities and women, so unless a car is a requirement of the job you want to avoid that line of inquiry. Consider why you’re asking. Is it for punctuality? Phrase your question accordingly; for example, “We require everyone to be here promptly at 8 a.m. Does this pose a problem for you?”

• Provide a job description as part of the interview — You can use the description as a basis for your interview questions and the applicant knows exactly what is required. If a person with a disability can’t perform one of the tasks with or without reasonable accommodation, it would come to light without the recruiter having to ask directly.

Being sensitive to unintentional discrimination will not only help you get the best person for the job, it will also help you stay in compliance with laws designed to reduce discrimination in the workplace. “

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Source: Tallahasee.com

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Are criminal background checks fair or discriminatory? An article in the Wall Street Journal weights the issue:

“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is holding a hearing today on an important topic for companies: Can they consider job applicants’ criminal histories in making hiring decisions?

The hearing will examine the law governing background screening and consider the extent to which individuals with arrest and conviction records face barriers in getting hired.

The hearing comes at a time in which an increasing number of employers are seeking criminal background checks out of security concerns, according to this item in the Washington Post’s Federal Eye blog. And some advocates, the Post reports, are pushing for legislation that would require certain employers to perform criminal background checks.

But the EEOC, as we noted in this earlier post, has in the past expressed concern that companies may improperly discriminate against minorities, who have been arrested at a disproportionate rate, when they screen out job applicants with criminal records. The agency has even sued some companies, alleging they have used arrest records improperly.

So, is background screening fair game for employers?

Paul Evans, a partner at Morgan, Lewis, offered the Law Blog some thoughts on the topic. “Employers have legal obligations to protect the safety of their customers and employees,” he said. Criminal record checks “allow employers to meet these obligations by ensuring that individuals with violent histories are not hired into roles, such as in-home service technician roles, that provide them with private access to customers and employees.”

Companies, he added, typically do not implement blanket prohibitions against hiring applicants with a criminal record. “In my experience, employers have well-reasoned criminal record check policies tailored to the jobs for which they are hiring,” Evans said.

An EEOC spokeswoman told the Law Blog that the agency is concerned that the employers may be prone to weed out applicants who have long-ago arrests that never led to a conviction. “It is of great concern to us that inaccurate information might be used to deny people employment,” she said. “This is also an economic concern for communities, because if ex-offenders are not given jobs the chances are that they may re-offend,” she added. “

Source: Wall Street Journal