W2 400.2

Module 2: Surveying the Human Resources Management Legal

Environment

In your role as the new human resources manager for Human Solutions Software (HSS), you

have been talking informally to many of the employees at HSS. There are several issues that

have come up in your discussions.

When HSS first started more than two years ago, the hiring practices were haphazard. The main

method of recruiting new employees was to ask current HSS employees if they knew anyone who

had the qualifications that HSS needed. It was common practice to hire family members and

friends of established employees. Those practices are still being used today and have been

institutionalized by providing bonuses to employees who refer people to apply for positions at the

organization, who are eventually hired. In some cases, jobs appear to have been created to fit

with the qualifications of people whom some of the founders wanted to hire.

You have also been struck by the demographic characteristics of the employees. There are

roughly an equal number of men and women working for HSS, but men fill most of the higher-

level positions. Two of the founders are women, but there is a great deal of tension between

these two women and the other three founders. This tension seems to be based on the two

women wanting to set up a corporate structure that the men see as taking power from the

founders. It seems that the new HR department is one of the changes that is in contention.

There is also a lack of minority employees. The two African American and three Hispanic

employees are working in lower-level positions.

In-Depth Scenario 1

This morning you received a notice from the local office of your state employment security office

that a complaint has been filed against HSS. It appears that before you started as the human

resources manager for HSS, several people were interviewed for a mid-level software developer

position. The position was not advertised publicly, but several people applied for the position.

The person hired for the position is a friend of one of the organization's founders. He is a 38-

year-old male. Other applicants for the position included the wife of one of the supervisors of

software development and a 54-year-old woman who is a friend of one of the female founders.

The woman who is a friend of one of the founders and was not hired is upset, and she filed the

complaint because she feels that she is better qualified than the person who was hired. She has

a bachelor's degree and 11 years of experience developing software. The man who was hired has

an associate's degree and five years of experience developing software.

After receiving the notice, you have made some informal inquiries as to what the reasons were

for hiring the successful applicant. The founder who handled HR issues before you were hired

confides in you that he did not want to hire anyone in their fifties because he wanted someone

who could "grow" with the company. The female founder who is the friend of the person who

filed a complaint is outraged that her friend was not hired. You talked to one of the software

development supervisors who was involved in hiring for the position, and he told you that he

wanted to hire the person who was hired because the person who was hired had experience that

was more directly related to the type of software that needed to have developed.

The founders are aware of the complaint and want you to educate them on the situation. They want you to inform them as to what laws or regulations may apply and to come up with

suggestions as to how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified. Draft a short memo in

which you address the following

• What laws or regulations may apply

• The organizational risks of the current hiring practices

• Propose suggestions for how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified.

Be sure to provide good sources to support your suggestions.