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Equal Employment Opportunities Make Good Business Sense

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Individuals in Human Resources already know there are laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace against existing employees, but equal employment opportunity also relates to hiring and recruiting new employees, as well. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of his/her race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information (EEOC.gov).

How does EEO affect the hiring process?
Here are a few considerations when examining your selection process to ensure that you are in compliance with EEOC regulations:

  • Employment Applications – Nothing on the application can ask about or refer to a class of people in a way that could be construed as being discriminatory. Avoid asking questions that may single out a group based on gender, age, religion, sex…and the other federal law factors mentioned above.
  • Job Ads – Remember when posting a job advertisement not to hone in on a specific group, such as recent college grads (may seem like you are not inclusive of all ages) or women (though some jobs may seem like they have been traditionally held by a certain gender group in the past, you cannot focus the job ad to that sex).
  • Applicant Referrals – Word of mouth job advertising can be tricky. If you have a workforce that is a similar demographic, and you exclusively, or very heavily, recruit based only on employee referrals, you are likely going to minimize diversity across your workforce and run into issues of adverse impact.
  • Talent Acquisition – If all your recruiting is targeted to a certain age group, gender, race or other protected group, then you are violating the laws for equal employment opportunity. Make sure, when sourcing applicants, that you use a wide variety of external ad sources so that you do not disproportionately exclude any type of applicant based on the protected classes above.

Just a few other potentially inflammatory EEOC-related issues to keep in mind:

  • Promotions – When promoting an employee, do not make a decision based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information; but rather, on experience and/or performance/merit. In human resources, it is important to keep a documented history of performance reviews to support any promotion decisions.
  • Benefits – Regardless of age, religion, gender (including pregnancy), and the other factors mentioned throughout this blog, all employees and applicants should be offered the same benefits. Think of benefits such as health care plans, 401k and stock options that may be offered to an incoming applicant. This includes a woman getting the same pay as a man for the same job, as just one example.
  • Discipline – When it comes to the discipline of employees, the rules need to be just, legal and applied consistently across the board. This will eliminate discrimination issues as well as harassment in the workplace.

Remember to put processes and training programs in place to stay compliant with federal anti-discrimination laws beyond the recruiting process, as well.

How can ExactHire help with EOE requirements?

Using an applicant tracking system can help to streamline and ease the challenges that can sometimes be associated with compliance reporting. An ATS also has tools in place to automate the process of posting jobs to a diverse set of external ad sources so that you can more easily amass a diverse group of engaged applicants. We can show you tools to find diversity and inclusion ad sources as well as coach you on how to build reports to help you stay compliant with EEOC laws.

For more information on our applicant tracking software, please visit our resources section or contact ExactHire.

Image credit: Macro Pencil Pink EraserSymbols and Signs by Pink Sherbert Photography (contact)

What Is An Applicant Flow Log Report?

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What’s an applicant flow log? Many of our clients are required to comply with Affirmative Action and OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) regulations. While these regulations are wide-ranging and very comprehensive, they typically apply to organizations that have government contracts (or sometimes subcontracts). At their core, these programs help to ensure that organizations don’t discriminate in their hiring processes. Of course, there’s more to it than this, but I’m not an Affirmative Action consultant.

What You Need To Know

The primary way these regulations are measured and enforced is through analysis of applicant records. In very simple terms, employers must keep very good records to show key things such as:

  • the number of applicants per open position posted
  • whether or not those applicants volunteered their race, gender, and ethnicity
  • if they did volunteer this information, it must be listed per applicant
  • the disposition of each applicant (i.e. how far did they get in the hiring process and why they were exited from the process)

The Challenge of Applicant Flow Log Reports

While the intent of these regulations probably wasn’t to overburden employers, the reality is that they do. As you can imagine, recording applicant flow log information in a spreadsheet for each applicant…for every job–while keeping their race/gender/ethnicity information separately, as required by law–is beyond painful. Then, once this data is collected, it needs to be analyzed and reported to authorities in very specific ways–typically by an Affirmative Action consultant or Labor/Employment attorney. On top of all that, if the employer fails to adequately keep these records, they risk fines and penalties if audited, including the loss of any future government contract. This clearly isn’t an optional task.

Ease the Compliance Reporting Burden

This compliance headache is a major reason why many organizations (even those in the small and mid-sized business space) are turning to applicant tracking software. A good ATS gathers, segregates and allows for automated reporting of the information described above–an applicant flow log report.

However, before working with an applicant tracking system vendor, be sure to ask for proof that they can do this type of tracking and reporting. The best way to do this is to talk with clients who are using this component of the applicant tracking software already. They will be in a great position to help you understand how well the ATS works for these specific purposes.

For more information about ExactHire and our Affirmative Action reporting capabilities, please contact us today. 

HEA 1482 Requires Indiana Employers to Update Employment Application Language Related to Criminal Record History

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Effective July 1, 2013, Indiana’s House Enrolled Act No. 1482 is a new law with which Indiana employers, including national employers based elsewhere that employ individuals in the state of Indiana, must comply. It prevents employers from discriminating against or refusing employment to a person based on his/her expunged or sealed conviction or arrest records.

Employment Application Requirement & Punishment for Failure to Comply

In Sec. 10(c) of HEA 1482, it explicitly states that in “any application for employment…a person may be questioned about a previous criminal record only in terms that exclude expunged convictions or arrests, such as: ‘Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime that has not been expunged by a court?'” However, we urge you to consult with your employment law attorney for exact language appropriate for an employment application in your industry as in many cases asking about arrests of any sort on an employment application can be problematic.

It is critically important for Indiana employers to execute this change before July 1st as the law goes onto mention that any person that discriminates against an individual as the law describes, including soliciting information about arrests or convictions that have been expunged on an application for employment, is committing a Class C infraction and may be held in contempt of court.

What About Negligent Hiring Claims?

As a means to protect employers, the law allows for the introduction of an expungement order in judicial and administrative proceedings claiming negligent hiring, as evidence that an individual exercised appropriate care in the hiring process.

What if I Have Been Using the Same Employment Application for Applicants to Jobs in Different States, Including Indiana?

If your organization employs individuals in Indiana, as well as other states that do not require the new application language, please note that our applicant tracking software can create and support multiple external employment applications for your careers portal. Existing clients who are interested in learning more about this option should contact ExactHire Client Services.

How Can I Get the Conviction-Related Question Updated on my ATS?

Your ExactHire Client Services team can make this change very quickly and easily in your careers portal once you contact us and confirm exactly how you’d like the question worded. Again, we cannot offer legal advice and strongly urge you to contact your employment attorney to discuss how your application’s criminal record history-related question should be worded, as well as any examples of how Indiana state law HEA 1482 may be preempted by federal laws.

When we make this change in your portal, we can either reword the existing field on your application, or turn off the previous field and add a new field with the updated question text. Discuss these options with your Client Services representative to determine the best approach for your ATS application and organization. To update your existing application language, please contact us today at support@exacthire.com.

Still using paper applications, but ready for a web-based recruiting portal? Contact ExactHire today for a free 14-day trial of our applicant tracking system.

[VIDEO] EEO and OFCCP Reporting – HireCentric ATS

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Keeping up with compliance-related EEO and OFCCP reporting tasks is one of the many essential responsibilities for human resource professionals employed by federal contractors today. From assessing whether applicants’ qualifications meet minimum job requirements to including diversity posting sources in your external job board mix to generating applicant flow logs, there are many factors to coordinate for an affirmative action-minded employer.

Finding an effective applicant tracking system to help automate these tasks allows an organization to make HR paperless and reduce overhead costs. In this video, ExactHire shows how the HireCentric ATS can accommodate the reporting needs of a company’s affirmative action plan program.


Are you a federal contractor that would like to evaluate options for automating your compliance reporting efforts? Schedule a live demo with ExactHire.

Transcript:

HireCentric ATS makes it simple to attach minimum qualification questions to jobs, and the system automatically disqualifies any applicants who fail to meet minimum requirements. Then, quickly view the disqualified applicants for a specific job and assign them a reason for non-selection.

Invite applicants to voluntarily self-identify EEO information within your branded portal stating that you are an equal employment opportunity employer. Hiring managers won’t see EEO information as they review applicants…survey answers are kept separate so that only HR Admins can run compliance reports.

It’s simple to assign a reason for non-selection. Save as many disposition status codes as you need to explain the why and when of each applicant’s departure from the hiring process. The ATS records the date and time for each status assignment so that it can be viewed from the applicant’s record as well as on compliance reports.

Automatically maintain an applicant flow log that contains information necessary to perform an adverse impact analysis. Customize the log to include must-have affirmative action info such as EEO-1 category, Job Group, disposition code, race and gender. And, export your reports with the click of a button.

Use our built-in job posting service with tons of external job boards to save time.
And, access a record of your posting history, including diversity sources and local employment agencies.

The HireCentric applicant tracking system is a key part of your compliance toolkit, and will easily meet your EEO & OFCCP reporting requirements, while also maintaining a positive recruitment brand.

Why Wait Longer for Electronic Submission and Storage of the Form I-9?

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I recently read an article on SHRM’s website, “USCIS Publishes Proposed Form I-9” by FosterQuan, that indicated that in late March of this year, a notice to collect input regarding proposed revisions to the Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification was published in the Federal Register. The article noted that one of the changes seems to suggest that the future version of the form may 1) allow individuals to complete it electronically; and, 2) allow employers to store the Form I-9 electronically.

Currently, the Form I-9, available for download from the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services), does allow one to type information into most fields with the exception of the signature fields on the form. As a result, many employers are still printing out a hard copy for signature by both the employee and the employer representative, and then filing the hard copy away in (an often dusty) file cabinet. If this sounds like your organization, you know that it takes time and money to print out forms, shuffle them back and forth between people (and locations) for signature, and then actually get them filed into the appropriate cabinet (and isn’t that item on the top of everyone’s priority list?).

The good news is that for nearly a couple of years now, the government has given its blessing to employers who wish to electronically sign, submit and store their I-9 forms assuming the proper security guidelines are followed. This ruling was effective on August 23, 2010 and more information may be found in the Federal Register. So why wait any longer to use a form that may be signed and stored electronically?

Electronic signature and storage of the Form I-9, and all other new hire employment paperwork, can already be accomplished through the use of employee onboarding software. Here are some advantages to making your organization’s onboarding process paperless:

  • Onboarding Central Employee ViewEliminate the struggles associated with collecting paperwork from many employees across many different locations. All employees submit their paperwork electronically from the convenience of their own location. If individuals are unable to complete all forms in one sitting, they may easily log back in at a later time to finish.
    • Tip: Depending on the type of paperwork you are collecting, you may even prefer that some employees submit paperwork online prior to their first day of employment.
  • Take the guesswork and the redundancy out of employee onboarding paperwork. Instead of new hires having to navigate through a stack of different forms, they may answer a series of simple questions and that information will be used to automatically populate all of the required forms.
  • Onboarding Central Administrator ViewEnsure that data is collected and stored in a secure, web-based environment. With the proper administrative login credentials, information can then be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.
  • Continue to follow government guidelines regarding the completion of the Form I-9.
    • New hires will submit information that populates the employee section and then electronically sign the Form I-9.
    • Then, HR administrators will process new I-9’s electronically by reviewing and verifying employees’ acceptable documents to establish identity and employment authorization. Once this has been done, these employer representatives will electronically sign the form, as well.
  • Eliminate the frustration of receiving new employee paperwork that is missing important information. Use the employee onboarding software to require critical fields so that employees may not sign and submit their forms until all required fields are completed.
  • Change benefit vendors? No problem. Electronic forms for the new vendor(s) can easily be added and existing employee information may then populate the appropriate forms.
    • Then, employees may log back into the onboarding software to review, verify and sign any new or updated paperwork.

Here is a listing of just some of the employment forms that many organizations choose to incorporate into their web-based onboarding application:

  • Form I-9
  • Federal Form W-4
  • State tax forms
  • WOTC Form 8850
  • Direct deposit form
  • Emergency contact form
  • 401(k) enrollment form
  • Health insurance enrollment form
  • Long Term Disability insurance / Dental insurance enrollment form
  • Computer and Internet usage policy acknowledgement form
  • Confidentiality agreement form
  • Employee handbook acknowledgement form (with link to the employee handbook document)
  • Driver’s license check authorization form
  • New employee checklist form
  • Training schedule form
  • Continuous education program form
  • Payroll application user guide

So, are you ready to get rid of those dusty file cabinets in your office? For more information about ExactHire’s employee onboarding software, please contact us.