FAQ Categories

Legal Compliance

Special Note: This section refers to the use of selection procedures inside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Labor. Users in other countries should obtain advice specific to the laws under which they operate.

What are the Uniform Guidelines?
Do assessments increase my legal risk?
What is adverse impact?
I don't know if I have adverse impact. What should I do?
How do I validate that an assessment is job-related?
If an assessment has adverse impact, must I stop using it?
How can I be sure I am not violating the Uniform Guidelines?
What steps always reduce any legal risk?

What are the Uniform Guidelines?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Uniform Guidelines for Employee Selection Procedures, 29 C.F.R. Part 1607[1] provide a framework to help ensure that a test used as part of the hiring, evaluation or promotion process will be employed in a non-discriminatory manner.

It is important to note that the Uniform Guidelines address all parts of a selection procedure, including resume reviews, interviews, and assessments. The goal of the guidelines is to prevent unnecessary discrimination against protected groups. For additional information, please read Legal Considerations When Using Testing in the Hiring or Promotion Process.

Do assessments increase my legal risk?

When assessments are applied properly, they actually reduce your legal risk, since they add objectivity to the selection process. However, careless use of assessments are just as risky as untrained interviewers. The key is to implement any selection process, assessments included, in a thoughtful manner and to ensure that all aspects of the hiring process are related to job performance.

What is adverse impact?

Adverse or disparate impact occurs when a selection process results in a substantial difference in the selection rates for different racial, gender, or age groups. When adverse impact is present, the Uniform Guidelines require employers to validate the use of each component of their selection process, including interviews, assessments, and all other methods, and verify that each component is job-related and cannot reasonably be replaced by another procedure that contains less adverse impact.

I don't know if I have adverse impact. What should I do?

In general, employers are required to monitor their selection procedures to determine if there is adverse impact and validate or revise their procedures if adverse impact is present.

How do I validate that an assessment is job-related?

This involves conducting a Job Analysis. For more information, please refer to the Understanding the Job FAQ.

If an assessment has adverse impact, must I stop using it?

Not necessarily. However, you should validate that the assessment is job-related, using a job analysis, evaluate alternate methods of measuring the same thing that have less adverse impact, and ensure that the assessment is applied in a way that minimizes the amount of adverse impact. This might involve reducing or eliminating a cut score, for example.

How can I be sure I am not violating the Uniform Guidelines?

The best way to ensure that you are not violating the Uniform Guidelines is to conduct a proper Job Analysis and use it to choose each component of your selection process. Then, monitor the process for adverse impact and make adjustments as required.

What steps always reduce any legal risk?

1. Never use strict cutoff scores unless they have been carefully validated via the Job Analysis.
2. Perform a Job Analysis to ensure you clearly understand the attributes of a job that most influence performance and are difficult to train once the person is on the job.