workforce development and planning
nm.gprooo03
chap2_ppt.pptPart 2
Support Activities
Chapter 2: Legal Compliance
Chapter 3: Planning
Chapter 4: Job Analysis
McGraw-Hill Education
Copyright © 2015 by McGraw-Hill Education., All Rights Reserved.
Part 2
The Nature of Staffing
Chapter 2:
Legal Compliance
Staffing Organizations Model
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Chapter Outline
- The Employment Relationship
- Laws and Regulations
- EEO/AA Laws: General Provisions and Enforcement
- EEO/AA Laws: Specific Staffing Provisions
- EEO/AA and Best Practices
- Other Staffing Laws
- Legal Issues in Remainder of Book
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Learning Objectives for This Chapter
- Contrast legal differences among employees, independent contractors, and temporary employees
- Appreciate why staffing laws are necessary, and their sources
- Review six major federal equal employment opportunity and affirmative action laws
- Distinguish between disparate treatment and adverse (disparate) impact approaches to enforcement
- Examine specific staffing provisions of the six major laws
- Look at other important staffing laws and regulations
- Gain an overview of legal issues covered in Chapters 3–14
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Discussion Questions for This Chapter
- Do you agree that “the employer usually has the upper hand” when it comes to establishing the employment relationship? When might the employee have maximum power over the employer?
- What are the limitations of disparate impact statistics as indicators of potential staffing discrimination?
- Why is each of the four situational factors necessary to establishing a claim of disparate treatment?
- What factors would lead an organization to enter into a consent agreement rather than continue pursuing a suit in court?
- What are the differences between staffing in the private and public sectors? Why would private employers probably resist adopting many of the characteristics of public staffing systems?
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The Employment Relationship
- Employer-employee
- Most prevalent form of employment relationship
- Involves an agreement between employer and employee on terms and conditions of employment
- Results in an employment contract
- Independent contractors
- Are not considered employees, in a legal sense, of employer
- Temporary employees
- Do not have special legal stature
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Ex. 2.1: Matching Process, Employment Contract, and Employment Process
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Laws and Regulations
- Need for laws and regulations
- Balance of power
- Protection of employees
- Protection of employers
- Exh. 2.2: Sources of Laws and Regulations
- Common law
- Constitutional law
- Statutory law
- Executive order
- Agencies
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Discussion Questions
- Do you agree that “the employer usually has the upper hand” when it comes to establishing the employment relationship? When might the employee have maximum power over the employer?
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Exh. 2.3: Major Federal/AA Laws: General Provisions
Ex. 2.3: Major Federal/AA Laws
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Disparate Treatment
- Involves allegations of intentional discrimination where employer knowingly discriminated on basis of specific characteristics
- Evidence
- May be direct
- May consist of a mixed motive
- May be inferred from situational factors
- 1. Person belongs to a protected class
- 2. Person applied for, and was qualified for, a job employer was trying to fill
- 3. Person was rejected despite being qualified
- 4. Position remained open and employer continued to seek applicants as qualified as person rejected
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Disparate / Adverse Impact
- Focuses on effect of employment practices, rather than on motive or intent underlying them
- As a result of a protected characteristic, people are adversely affected by an employment practice
- Evidence -- Involves use of statistics
- Exh. 2.5: Types of Disparate Impact Statistics
- Applicant flow statistics
- Four-fifth’s rule - An employment practice has disparate
impact if hiring rate for minority group is less than
four-fifths (or 80%) of hiring rate for majority group - Stock statistics
- Concentration statistics
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Litigation Process - EEOC
Disparate treatment
Disparate impact
Show intent?
Yes
No
Prima facie case
Disparate treatment - intentional practice
Disparate impact - effect of practice
Employer’s rebuttal
Nondiscriminatory reason(s) for practice or show BFOQ
Practice job-related and consistent with business necessity
Plaintiff’s rebuttal
Reason is a pretext for discrimination
Practice not job-related; employer does not adopt practice with less disparate impact
Remedies
Consent decree; compensatory and punitive damages
Consent decree; equitable relief, i.e. back pay
Exh. 2.5: Types of Disparate Impact Statistics
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Discussion Questions
- What are the limitations of disparate impact statistics as indicators of potential staffing discrimination?
- Why is each of the four situational factors necessary to establishing a claim of disparate treatment?
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Enforcement by EEOC:
Initial Charge and Conciliation
- Charge filed
- Investigation to determine “reasonable cause”
- If “reasonable cause” found, conciliation is pursued
- Voluntary settlement process
- Preferred method of settlement
- If EEOC decides not to pursue a claim, a “right to sue” letter is issued to complaining party
- Complementing conciliation is mediation
- Neutral, third-party mediates dispute to obtain agreement to resolve dispute
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Exh. 2.7: Basic Litigation Process - EEOC
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Enforcement by OFCCP
- Enforcement mechanisms differ from those of EEOC
- Covered employers required to develop and implement written AA plans
- Enforcement involves
- Off-site desk audits/reviews of
employers’ records and AA plans - On-site visits/compliance reviews of employers’ AA plans
- Employers found in noncompliance urged to change practices through conciliation
- If conciliation is unsuccessful, employers subject to penalties affecting their status as federal contractors
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Discussion Questions
- What factors would lead an organization to enter into a consent agreement rather than continue pursuing a suit in court?
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EEO / AA Laws:
Specific Staffing Provisions
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Unlawful employment practices
- Establishment of disparate impact
- Disparate treatment
- Mixed motives
- Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)
- Testing
- Test score adjustments
- Seniority or merit systems
- Employment advertising
- Pregnancy
- Preferential treatment and quotas
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EEO / AA Laws:
Specific Staffing Provisions
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967)
- Prohibited age discrimination
- BFOQ
- Factors other than age
- Seniority systems
- Employment advertising
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EEO / AA Laws:
Specific Staffing Provisions
- Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
- Prohibited discrimination
- Definition of disability
- Physical and mental impairments substantially limiting a major life activity
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EEO / AA Laws:
Specific Staffing Provisions
- Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
- EEOC clarifications
- Impairment - “A physiological disorder affecting one or more of a number of body systems or a mental or psychological disorder.”
- Expanded major life activities include “sitting, standing, lifting, and mental and emotional processes such as thinking, concentrating, and interacting with others.”
- Whether an impairment is substantially limiting depends on its nature and severity, duration or expected duration, and its permanency or long-term impact.
- To be substantially limiting, impairment must prevent/significantly restrict a person from performing a class or broad range of jobs in various classes.
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EEO / AA Laws:
Specific Staffing Provisions
- Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
- Qualified individual with a disability
- Essential job functions
- Reasonable accommodation and undue hardship
- Selection of employees
- Medical exams for job applicants and employees
- Affirmative action
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EEO / AA Laws:
Specific Staffing Provisions
- Rehabilitation Act (1973)
- Prohibited discrimination
- Affirmative action
- Executive Order 11246 (1965)
- Prohibited discrimination
- Affirmative action
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Other Staffing Laws: Immigration
Reform and Control Act (1986)
- Purpose
- To prohibit employment of unauthorized aliens
- To provide civil and criminal penalties for violations
- Prohibited discrimination
- Employment verification system -- I-9 form
- Employer must verify individual is not an unauthorized alien and is legally eligible for employment
- Individuals must offer proof of identity
- Temporary foreign workers
- Enforcement
- Enforced by Department of Justice
- Noncompliance may result in fines up to $10,000
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Other Staffing Laws: Employee
Polygraph Protection Act (1988)
- Purpose
- Prevent most private employers from using
a polygraph on job applicants or employees - Prohibited practices
- Requiring applicants or employees to take a polygraph
- Using results of a polygraph for employment decisions
- Discharging or disciplining individuals for refusal to take a polygraph
- Examples of instances where polygraph may be used
- Enforcement
- Enforced by Department of Labor
- Noncompliance may result in fines up to $10,000
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Other Staffing Laws: Fair
Credit Reporting Act (1970)
- Purpose
- Regulates organization’s acquisition and
use of consumer reports on job applicants - Required compliance
- Before obtaining a report, organization must
- Give applicant notice in writing a report may be obtained
- Obtain written authorization from applicant
- If an “adverse action” is taken, organization must
- Notify (written, oral, electronic) applicant of adverse action
- Provide information of consumer reporting agency to applicant
- Provide notice of applicant’s rights to applicant
- Enforcement
- Enforced by Federal Trade Commission
- Noncompliance may result in fines up to $1,000
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Other Staffing Laws: State and Local Laws
- EEO / AA laws
- Often patterned after federal laws
- Basic provisions vary from state to state
- Often provide protections beyond those
contained in federal laws and regulations - Other state laws
- Employment-at-will
- Workplace torts
- Examples of other covered areas
- Criminal record inquiries by employer, polygraph and “honesty” testing, drug testing, AIDS testing, employee access to personnel records
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Other Staffing Laws:
Civil Service Laws and Regulations
- Merit principles and staffing practices
- Merit principles relevant to staffing
- To recruit, select, and promote employees on the basis of their KSAOs
- To provide for fair treatment of applicants and employees without regard to political affiliation, race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or handicap
- To protect privacy and constitutional rights of applicants and employees as citizens
- To protect employees against coercion for partisan political purposes
- Principles codified in civil service laws and regulations
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Other Staffing Laws:
Civil Service Laws and Regulations (continued)
- Comparisons with private sector
- Notable differences exist between public and private sectors
- Examples of public sector staffing practices
- Open announcement of all vacancies, along with content of selection process to be followed
- Large numbers of applicants due to applications being open
- Legal mandate to test applicants only for KSAOs directly job-related
- Limits on discretion in final hiring process, such as number of finalists, ordering of finalists, and AA considerations
- Rights of applicants to appeal hiring decision, testing process, or actual test content and method
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Discussion Questions
- What are the differences between staffing in the private and public sectors? Why would private employers probably resist adopting many of the characteristics of public staffing systems?
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Ethical Issues
- Issue 1
- Assume that you’re the staffing manager in a company that informally, but strongly, discourages you and managers from hiring people with disabilities. The company’s rationale is that people with disabilities are unlike to be high performers or long term employees, and are costly to train, insure, and integrate into the work unit. What is your ethical assessment of the company’s stance; do you have an ethical obligation to try to change the stance, and if so, how might you go about that?
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Ethical Issues
- Issue 2
- Assume the company you work for practices strict adherence to the law in its relationships with employees and job applicants. The company calls it “staffing by the book.” But beyond that, it feels that “anything goes” in terms of tolerated staffing practices. What is your assessment of this approach?
