EEOC & ADA Compliance

When Congress passed Equal Employment Opportunity legislation and the Americans with Disabilities Act, its goal was to assure that no one in this country was denied employment unfairly. These days, as we watch the unemployment numbers grow, most of us realize denying anyone a job because of their color, race, religion, sex, age, marital status, sexual preference, disability, or anything else not directly related to the demands of the job simply is not only wrong, it is foolish. In an effort to eliminate prejudice in hiring and firing, Congress passed legislation that left many employers unsure as to what they could and could not do. 

Congress did not say that an employer could not exercise selection and management procedures that are job relevant, consistent and fairly applied.

In fact, it is inconsistent with the spirit of EEOC and ADA legislation to hire someone for whom the probability of reasonable success at work is limited.

Increasingly, courts are requiring employers to exercise job relevant selection. Recent court rulings have supported the concept of negligent hiring that employers can be held liable for the acts of employees not properly screened and selected.

The common thread running through EEOC, ADA, negligent hiring and unjustified termination is that employers must act fairly and without bias when selecting and managing employees. Documenting the steps an employer takes in his or her selection and management process helps demonstrate a pattern of fair and unbiased practices.

The Omnia Selection Concept

There are several important steps to employee selection. Some of these are required by law for larger companies but the steps make sense for all businesses:

1. Define Employee Standards - Define employee standards and expectations so that identical criteria are applied to all candidates. The employer simply checks appropriate boxes on Omnia’s Position Description and Set-up Form. Omnia then defines the parameters needed for job matching as well as environment matching, the definition of the client's particular way of doing business (degree of pay through commission, number of bosses and subordinates), items which do not deal with the performance per se, but which often determine employee success.
2. Write Position Descriptions - Write position descriptions for each position. This allows you to describe the job in identical terms to each candidate and ensures that performance evaluations are based on the same criteria for every employee doing the job. Omnia can do this for you or we can train your staff to do it.
3. Use The Omnia Profile - Assure a candidate's success by using The Omnia Profile. This allows you to compare the candidate to successful employees or the prospective supervisor. An independent, 18 month study conducted by a Boston consulting firm, headed by a federal expert witness in EEOC and Affirmative Action litigation, found The Omnia Profile is free of any age, sex or race bias.
4. Document Due Diligence - Document due diligence in employee selection and management using Omnia's Employee Selection Companion (which lists 11 selection steps, one of which is using The Omnia Profile) and Omnia CC®, a quick, easy, no-nonsense management system.

The key to compliance with the EEOC's requirements is the ability to demonstrate job relatedness and an absence of adverse impact in each step of the selection and the management process. This means that no matter what the selection criteria or tools, there can be no evident discrimination. Omnia’s legal counsel and the Boston validation team stress the importance of the way in which a client uses our profile interpretations. A client who misuses an otherwise legal product, service or procedure may be in violation of EEOC and/or ADA.

Omnia can help clients who perceive EEOC, ADA, negligent hiring and unjustified termination legislation as an impediment or threat, to build a profitable business.

Omnia can help make compliance a benefit to our clients, their companies, employees, managers and owners.