Equal Employment Opportunity

1
Equal Employment Opportunity

• Kenneth M. York
• School of Business Administration
• Oakland University

2
EEO Laws and Guidelines

• Selection and Performance Appraisal
• Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection
  Procedures
• Principles for the Validation and Use of
  Personnel Selection Procedures
• Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests

3
EEO Laws and Guidelines

• Fair Employment Practices
• Guidelines on Sexual Harassment
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Worker Health and Safety
• Occupational Safety and Health Act

4
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Civil Rights Act 1964
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Civil Service Commission
• Department of Labor
• Department of Justice
• Employers may use tests to select qualified
  employees consistent with
• improving the quality of the workforce
• reasonable expectations of proficiency in the
  workforce

5
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Selection procedure that selects less than 80 of
  the minority applicants compared to the majority
  applicants has adverse impact
• If selection procedure has adverse impact, each
  component must be shown to be valid
• Equal employment opportunity posture of the
  company will be considered
• Employer may modify the procedure or validate

6
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Record keeping
• Applicant flow data not connected with names/ID
• Females/Males Blacks, AmerIndians, Asians,
  Hispanics, Whites
• Records safeguarded against misuse and criterion
  contamination
• No records of adverse impact is presumption of
  adverse impact

7
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Test Validation methods
• Selection procedure is correlated with job
  performance (Criterion-Related Validity) OR
• Content of selection procedure is representative
  of the job (Content Validity) OR
• Traits/constructs are correlated to job
  performance (Construct Validity)
• Dont select for easily learned KSAs

8
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Can select for higher level job if regular
  progression
• If lack of validity study, must have
• Substantial evidence of validity AND
• Validity study in progress
• Can use a non-validated procedure
• If part of an affirmative action plan
• If validation study cannot be done because of
  small sample size

9
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Use of other validity studies is OK when
• There is clear evidence of validity
• Study followed the Uniform Guidelines
• Same job and similar workforce
• No adverse impact
• Description of important job behaviors and
  criterion of job success

10
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Employment Agencies
• Must follow Guidelines
• Employer using agency must follow the Guidelines
• Disparate Treatment
• Procedure imposed unequally by race, sex,
  national origin
• Adverse impact focuses on outcome disparate
  treatment focuses on procedure

11
Uniform Guidelines (1978)

• Adverse Impact
• 4/5ths or 80 Rule
• strongest test, based on outcome of selection
  procedure
• Labormarket (or Hazelwood or Utilization)
  Analysis
• weaker test, based on workforce
• Population Analysis
• weakest test, not job-specific

12
Principles for Validation (1987)

• Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology
  (SIOP)
• How to do validation studies
• Criterion-Related Strategies
• Content-Related Strategies
• Construct-Related Strategies
• Validity Generalization

13
Standards for Tests (1974)

• American Psychological Association
• How to write a test
• Manual
• Norms/Percentiles
• Reliability and Validity
• Standards for use of tests

14
Guidelines on Sexual Harassment (1980)

• A kind of sex discrimination under Title VII
• Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual
  favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a
  sexual nature
• Term or condition of employment
• Hostile work environment

15
Guidelines on Sexual Harassment (1980)

• Employer liability
• Supervisor is harasser strict liability
• Coworker or nonemployee is harasser limited
  liability
• Affirmative action obligation to prevent sexual
  harassment
• Third party sexual harassment

16
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967)

• Prohibits discrimination against people 40-69,
  unless employer can demonstrate that age is a
  BFOQ
• Michigan Elliott-Larsen Act has no age limits
• Older workers can waive their rights to sue under
  ADEA in exchange for early retirement incentives
• No mandatory retirement before age 70

17
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967)

• Reasonable factors other than age can be used to
  justify termination of a protected worker
• Reduction in force
• Voluntary early retirement plans

18
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

• Most significant anti-discrimination law since
  Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Goal is to integrate the disabled into the
  workforce and change focus of pre-employment
  inquiries to ability to do the job
• Covers employment, transportation, public
  accommodation

19
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

• 43 million American have some type of disability
• Job descriptions must be rewritten to identify
  essential job duties and other job duties
• Can be actual disability or perceived to be a
  disability by others
• Disability is a physical or mental impairment
  that substantially limits one or more major life
  activities

20
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

• What is a qualified disability?
• Includes cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy,
  epilepsy, AIDS, successfully rehabilitated drug
  abuser
• Not transvestites, homosexuals, emotional or
  sexual disorders, illegal drug abuser
• Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship
• Costs and benefits

21
Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970)

• OSHA Acts created
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and
  Health
• Some occupational hazards
• Violence in the workplace
• Sick buildings
• Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (RSI)

22
Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970)

• OSHA paperwork (keep 5 years)
• OSHA-300 (formerly OSHA-200)
• OSGA-301 (formerly OSHA-101)
• OSHA-102
• OSHA consultation
• OSHA penalties
• Accident Injury Prevention Approaches
• Engineering approach
• Personnel approach
• Industrial-social approach
• Pseudoscientific approach