The law states that employers cannot use a pre-employment screening test to discriminate against people aged 40 or over. The law prohibits the employer from using a pre-employment test for people over the age of 40 if it is not necessary for all people to take the same test. The Age Discrimination Act also prohibits the selection process, which disproportionately affects applicants aged 40 and over. Even though the test is necessary for all individuals. To help you understand things better, iMocha has put together a checklist that is easy to understand and use. You can check out the checklist below or download it for future reference. Like all other elements of a company`s hiring process, pre-employment testing is subject to a set of federal laws that govern hiring practices. The main legal standards for testing are contained in the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), which explicitly recognize the right of employers to use pre-employment tests to make hiring decisions as long as those tests are job-related. The UGESP provides interpretive guidelines to federal agencies responsible for administering the Civil Rights Act and is designed to balance and prevent unfair discrimination in hiring. These guidelines feed into the decisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces federal laws on discrimination in the workplace. Correct use of job tests – Another topic on our validation page, this will give you a direct link if you are looking for answers on how to use job tests in your company.
Polygraph tests provide a diagnostic opinion about a candidate`s honesty, but their validity has been questioned, leading to restrictions on their use. The Employee Polygraph Protection Act, 1988 prohibits employers from applying for or requesting polygraphs prior to hiring in most cases. It is important to note that there have been few cases of adverse effects with personality or integrity tests, as these tests generally do not have adverse effects on minorities. No one has ever been able to demonstrate prima facie evidence against the use of integrity tests. In addition, there are very few challenges, no more than 100, for the millions of tests that have been performed. Employers must ensure that all selection tests are reliable and valid and provide consistent results that predict success at work; If this is not the case, it is likely that discrimination lawsuits will follow. The Uniform Guidelines on Selection Procedures for EEOC Employees describe in detail how the EEOC will evaluate a test method in question; The agency offers additional guidance in its factsheet on job tests and selection procedures. States may have individual requirements and guidelines for those working in that state. It is recommended to consult a lawyer before setting up a selection method.
See DOL raids against the company`s use of recruitment tests. Many employers believe that properly used and performed formal tests can be beneficial to the job selection process. However, perfect reliability is difficult to achieve because a variety of factors can call into question the integrity of a test – such as inappropriate or irrelevant questions or assessment bias when evaluating candidates. In order to improve the reliability of assessors, organisations should provide adequate training on the basic rules for each selection test. See Validating Job Tests to Avoid Litigation and What Are the Compliance Issues Associated with Creating a Pre-Employment Test? It is essential for a company to continuously monitor the use of testing before hiring to support regulatory compliance. Implementing a process for tracking procedures and results, including recording candidate profiles, tests given and results obtained, can help ensure that test procedures are valid over time. It is also necessary to keep abreast of legal developments in the field of job tests in order to validate their continued use. If the examination of a selection test reveals adverse effects on a protected group, a lawyer must be consulted without delay. During the hiring process, candidates may face a “pre-employment test”.
This is a standardized test that employers can give to candidates to gather information about their job-related skills and character traits. Legal and professionally designed tests or assessments can provide employers with important information about how the candidate would behave in a particular job. On the other hand, non-professional and unvalidated pre-employment tests can lead to discrimination in the workplace and are illegal during the hiring process. Learn more about the difference to protect your rights. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces labour laws, and these laws affect almost every aspect of the hiring process. It also provides a fact sheet on “Job Tests and Selection Procedures” to raise employer awareness of pre-employment legal issues. 2. Right to privacy: Privacy is a growing legal concern for employers who use personality tests. The concept of privacy rights in the workplace has evolved from the broader concept of privacy rights. Some states, such as California, have applied such privacy standards to private employers. The lower courts have recognized that the constitutional right to privacy protects public servants. Therefore, test questions asked of public servants must not be unreasonably intrusive (e.g., questions about sexual preferences, religious or political opinions) and must be job-related.
Knowledge is assessed through written and oral questions. Although commercial tests are available for a variety of specific professional fields, they should be evaluated for their reliability and validity before use. While a valid pre-employment test can be an advantage for a business, one that asks illegal questions could be a burden. A poorly developed or discriminatory test could expose the company to an employment lawsuit in which the candidate claims that the employer has been discriminated against by an illegal job test. It is important that employers ensure that their selection methods comply with the law and that employees understand their rights and protection from discrimination during the hiring process. Our tip: Do your own basic studies for the different jobs in your company before hiring or promoting employees, use common sense when applying information about personality tests or other job tests, and discuss options with your legal counsel before taking tests. It is legal for an employer to take a test or assessment before offering a job to a candidate. However, the test must meet professional standards and have an appropriate purpose; Otherwise, the test is neither valid nor legal. As a candidate, you can determine if a certain type of screening is legal by looking at what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines as discrimination. Discrimination means unfairly treating a person belonging to a protected class, for example: validity measures the extent to which the conclusions drawn from a test are correct. In other words, does the test accurately measure workplace factors that predict job performance? For a pre-employment assessment tool, validity is the extent to which the test or instrument actually measures what it claims to measure.
Test publishers conduct validation studies in accordance with EEOC guidelines and certain industry and professional standards. One of the most widespread and respected examples of these standards can be found by the Society for Work and Organizational Psychology. Pre-employment blood alcohol testing is not recommended because it is considered medical testing under the ADA and must therefore be job-related and compatible with the needs of the business. The analysis of illegal substances is not considered a medical examination. Commercially available tests used in employment decisions should be studied with the help of reliable advice. Unfortunately, many commercially available employee selection tests do not meet the necessary criteria to be used in job tests. Under this law, employers are not allowed to discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender and age. Title VII, as amended, makes it illegal to discriminate against a woman on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. Instead, the correct use of tests as a selection tool should actually reduce the likelihood of being prosecuted. Because testing makes the selection process fairer and more objective for all candidates. Testing is less subjective than interviews, in which interviewers` personal biases are much more likely to lead to complaints of discrimination.
In fact, a recent study shows that companies are more than three times more likely to be sued for interviews than for their use of aptitude, personality or ability tests. Short biography Dr. John Schinnerer is a certified entrepreneur and psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. He is president and CEO of InfiNET Assessment, which conducts online pre-employment testing to match jobs with people. He can be reached by e-mail at John@InfinetAssessment.com.