Workforce planning and talent acquisition, by the law

Two qualified employees have applied for a supervisor vacancy, and a recent engagement survey shows that staff doubt they can advance in the company. Which approach BEST addresses the survey concern?

1. Fill the role through a posted internal selection process
   A posted internal selection gives both qualified employees a fair, visible chance and shows staff that advancement is real.
2. Recruit externally to bring in fresh perspectives
   Hiring from outside would confirm the survey's fear that employees cannot advance inside.
3. Leave the role open and split duties among the team
   Leaving the job unfilled offers no advancement at all and spreads the workload onto the team.
4. Appoint the most senior employee without a selection process
   Appointing by seniority without a process skips merit and transparency, so others still see no fair path up.

New hires attend a one-day orientation of forms and policy videos. Thirty percent quit within 90 days, and exit interviews say they felt lost. Which change BEST addresses this?

1. Raise starting pay to the market's 75th percentile
   Exit interviews point to feeling lost, not to pay, so a pay raise misses the stated cause.
2. Extend onboarding with 90-day check-ins and a buddy
   Onboarding over the first 90 days with check-ins and a buddy gives new hires ongoing support, which targets the 'felt lost' cause.
3. Add more policy content to the first-day orientation
   More policy content on day one adds to an orientation that is already heavy on forms and leaves the later months untouched.
4. Shorten the orientation to reduce first-day overload
   A shorter first day cuts information further but adds no support during the weeks when people quit.

A company's workforce is about 90% one race, and most new hires come through employee referrals. Which risk should HR flag about relying on referrals?

1. Referred hires tend to quit sooner than other new hires
   Research generally finds that referred hires stay longer, not shorter, so this is not the risk to flag.
2. Referral bonuses are prohibited by federal wage-hour law
   Federal wage-hour law does not prohibit referral bonuses.
3. They can replicate demographics and cause adverse impact
   Referrals tend to bring in people like the current workforce, so in a homogeneous workforce they can reproduce its makeup and create adverse impact.
4. Referred candidates usually turn down the job offers made
   Referred candidates tend to accept offers at higher rates, so offer declines are not the concern.

HR must quickly find current employees who speak Spanish and hold a project-management certification for a new role. Which tool BEST supports this search?

1. An employee referral program
   A referral program sources outside candidates, not current employees with specific skills.
2. An internal job posting
   An internal posting waits for applicants and does not quickly find who already has both qualifications.
3. A replacement chart
   A replacement chart names backups for specific positions; it does not catalog languages or certifications.
4. An HRIS skills inventory
   A skills inventory in the HRIS can be searched for language skills and certifications across current staff.

An employer with 12 employees refuses an employee's request for a disability accommodation. Which statement is accurate under federal law?

1. The ADA does not cover this employer
   Title I of the ADA applies to employers with 15 or more employees, so a 12-person employer is not covered by the federal law (state laws may still apply).
2. The ADA covers employers with 10 or more
   The ADA employee threshold is 15, not 10, so a 12-person employer remains outside federal coverage.
3. The ADA covers employers of any size
   The ADA has a 15-employee threshold, so it does not cover employers of every size.
4. The ADA does not cover it, but the FMLA does
   The ADA part is right, but the FMLA needs 50 employees and provides leave, not accommodations, so it does not apply to this 12-person employer either.

Under the ADA, when may an employer require an applicant to take a medical examination?

1. Only after the employee completes 90 days of work
   Waiting until 90 days of work has no basis: employers may examine after a conditional offer, and current employees only when it is job-related and consistent with business necessity.
2. After a conditional offer, if all entrants take it
   The ADA allows medical exams only after a conditional offer, and only if everyone entering the same job category takes them.
3. Before an offer, if the job is physically demanding
   Before an offer, medical exams are banned even for physically demanding jobs; a job-related physical-ability test without medical content is different.
4. Once the applicant discloses a disability
   Disclosing a disability does not open the door to medical exams; the post-offer rule still applies.

A company gives a new sales aptitude test to its current sales reps and compares their scores with their sales results for this year. Which validation approach is this?

1. Test-retest reliability
   Test-retest reliability measures how consistent scores are over two sittings; it is not a validation approach.
2. Predictive validation
   Predictive validation tests applicants first and compares scores with performance measured later.
3. Concurrent validation
   Testing current employees and comparing their scores with present performance is concurrent validation.
4. Content validation
   Content validation shows that the test samples the job's content; it does not correlate scores with results.

After a promotion decision, several passed-over employees complain that the process favored the manager's friends. Which practice would BEST prevent this in future promotions?

1. Keeping promotion decisions confidential
   Keeping decisions confidential hides the process and makes favoritism harder to rule out.
2. Letting managers promote without a posting
   Promoting without a posting is the practice that produced the complaints in the first place.
3. Promoting the most senior applicant every time
   Automatic seniority ignores qualifications and simply replaces one unexplained rule with another.
4. Posted criteria and structured interviews
   Posted criteria and structured, job-related interviews make promotion decisions consistent and visible, which counters claims of favoritism.

A company requires a high school diploma for warehouse jobs. The rule screens out one racial group at a much higher rate, and the company cannot show it predicts job performance. Which claim is MOST likely?

1. Disparate impact under Title VII
   A neutral requirement that excludes one racial group at a higher rate and is not shown to be job-related is a disparate impact claim under Title VII.
2. Pattern-or-practice under the ADEA
   The ADEA covers age, not race, and the facts show no pattern of intentional age bias.
3. Retaliation under Title VII
   Retaliation requires adverse action after protected activity, and no one here complained or took part in an investigation.
4. Disparate treatment under Title VII
   Disparate treatment requires intentional differential treatment, and here the same rule applies to everyone.

To validate a new test, a company tests sales applicants before hire and compares their scores with their sales results six months later. Which validation approach is this?

1. Concurrent validation
   Concurrent validation tests current employees and compares scores with performance measured at the same time.
2. Predictive validation
   Testing applicants before hire and comparing their scores with performance measured later is predictive validation.
3. Construct validation
   Construct validation shows that a test measures an underlying trait, such as conscientiousness, rather than correlating scores with later sales.
4. Content validation
   Content validation shows that the test samples the job's content; it involves no later comparison with results.

An employee hired on March 1, 2020, is terminated on June 30, 2026. Until what date must the employer keep the employee's Form I-9?

1. June 30, 2026
   The termination date itself is too early; the form must be kept for at least one more year.
2. June 30, 2029
   June 30, 2029 adds three years to the termination date, which is not the I-9 rule.
3. June 30, 2027
   Keep the I-9 for 3 years after hire (March 1, 2023) or 1 year after termination (June 30, 2027), whichever is later, so June 30, 2027.
4. March 1, 2023
   March 1, 2023 is three years after hire, but the later date (one year after termination) controls.

E-Verify returns a tentative nonconfirmation (mismatch) for a new hire. What should the employer do?

1. Terminate the employee's employment at once
   Firing someone over a tentative nonconfirmation before the process ends violates E-Verify rules.
2. Suspend the employee without pay until resolved
   Suspending or cutting pay while the employee contests the mismatch is an adverse action the program does not allow.
3. Ask the employee for different I-9 documents
   Asking for different documents because of an E-Verify result is prohibited document abuse.
4. Notify the employee and allow time to contest
   The employer must promptly tell the employee about the mismatch and give the employee the chance to contest it before taking any action.

Two interviewers independently score the same candidates, and their ratings differ widely. Which property of the interview is weak?

1. Inter-rater reliability
   Inter-rater reliability is agreement between different raters scoring the same candidates, which is what is missing here.
2. Predictive validity
   Predictive validity is how well scores forecast later performance, which this comparison does not test.
3. Test-retest reliability
   Test-retest reliability compares the same measure over time, not two raters at the same time.
4. Content validity
   Content validity concerns whether the questions sample the job; it says nothing about two raters disagreeing.

An applicant for a warehouse job has a nine-year-old misdemeanor conviction unrelated to the job. Which approach BEST limits the employer's Title VII risk?

1. Reject the applicant only if it was a felony
   A felony-only rule is still a blanket rule that does not look at how old the offense is or how it relates to the job.
2. Weigh the offense, time elapsed and job duties
   Weighing the nature of the offense, the time since it happened and the job's duties is an individualized, job-related review that limits disparate-impact risk.
3. Reject anyone who has any conviction record
   A blanket ban on anyone with a conviction can screen out some racial groups at higher rates without being job-related.
4. Ignore it; conviction questions are illegal
   Federal law does not ban asking about convictions (some state and local laws restrict timing), and ignoring a relevant record can create negligent-hiring risk.

A recruiter's job posting states that 'recent college graduates' are preferred for an entry-level analyst role. Which federal law does this wording MOST likely violate?

1. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
   Title VII covers race, color, religion, sex and national origin, not age.
2. The Americans with Disabilities Act
   The ADA concerns disability, and nothing in this wording screens on disability.
3. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
   Preferring 'recent college graduates' deters older applicants, so it is the wording most likely to violate the ADEA.
4. The Fair Labor Standards Act
   The FLSA regulates wages and hours, not how recruiting ads describe candidates.

A new hire's first day of work is Monday, and the company works Monday through Friday. By when must the employer complete Section 2 of Form I-9?

1. Before the job offer is made
   The I-9 is completed after the offer is accepted; collecting it before an offer is not required and invites discrimination claims.
2. By the following Monday
   The following Monday is past the three-business-day deadline.
3. By the end of Monday
   The end of Monday is the deadline for the employee to complete Section 1, not for the employer's Section 2.
4. By the end of Thursday
   Section 2 must be completed within three business days after the first day of work: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so by the end of Thursday.