LEGAL ISSUES RELATED TO THE USE OF APPLICATIONS BLANKS: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 23, 1996 LEGAL ISSUES RELATED TO THE USE OF APPLICATION BLANKS: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE Lee A. Graf, Illinois State University Masoud Hemmasi, Illinois State University Sue Stewart-Belle, Illinois State University Michael W. Winchell, Illinois State University ABSTRACT Most organizations ask recruits to complete an employment application as part of the selection process. The application is typically designed to assess an applicant’s “general suitability” for a job. As such, the application blank is used to eliminate unqualified candidates in the early stages of the selection process and is therefore subject to legal scrutiny. This experiential exercise is to give participants the opportunity to expand their understanding of employment law and its use in designing and assessing application blanks. INTRODUCTION Selection of employees is critical for effective management of all organizations. The tools used and the choices made during the selection process can and will have a lasting impact on the quality of a company’s labor force, and thus the organization’s profits. Traditionally, most organizations ask recruits to complete an employment application as part of the selection process—a measure of an applicant’s “general suitability” for a job. As such, the application blank is used to eliminate unqualified candidates in the early stages of the selection process and is therefore subject to legal scrutiny. Any selection tool used to eliminate people from the selection process must conform to all appropriate state and federal employment regulations. The purpose of this experiential exercise is to give participants the opportunity to expand their understanding of employment law and its use in designing and assessing selection tools, in this case an application blank. Participants in the exercise will be asked to assess the lawfulness of each item on the attached application blank based on their “gut feelings” and make changes to the application where appropriate. Participants are then supplied with a guide providing information on appropriate and inappropriate pre- employment inquiries as a reference against which they can compare their reactions. THE EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE Anyone currently involved or that expects to be involved in the interviewing process at some point in the future must have at least a basic knowledge of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 as amended in 1978 basically prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national original, or age in employment practices. The guidelines specifically emphasize that use of any employee selection device that results in the exclusion of a disproportionate number of women or minority applicants may be unlawful unless it can be shown that the device is a valid measure of on-the-job performance. In other words, all questions have to be job related, or they cannot be asked. In this experience, you become familiar with one such selection device: the employment application blank. Exercise 1 Your instructor will divide the class into groups, and each group will be assigned a different job title. Write your groups job title in the space that follows. (Job title)_____. Before meeting with your group, individually examine the employment application blank in Figure 1. Then, using your “gut feelings” and common sense, determine the lawfulness (L) or unlawfulness (U) of each item with regard to your assigned job. Use the space below each item on the application blank to jot down your thoughts. Make any changes that you believe will correct the item, including the items that should be deleted. Exercise 2 Meet with your group and discuss your individual decisions and their rationale. Reach a consensus decision on the lawfulness of each item based again on the group’s “gut feelings” and common sense. Make changes in your earlier individual thoughts on the application blank in Figure 1 where appropriate. Exercise 3 Meet as a class and discuss group decisions and rationale. Again, make changes/comments on the application blank in Figure 1 where appropriate. Exercise 4 As directed by your instructor, compare your “gut feelings” and common sense reactions to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. What are the differences between your logic and that of the Uniform Guidelines? 189 Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 23, 1996 INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES Purpose of the Experience This experience was designed to expose students to the lawfulness of various items on the application blank as an employment device, by giving them the opportunity to: 1. Exercise their “gut feelings” and common sense reactions regarding the lawfulness of various items on an employment application blank 2. Familiarize themselves with EEOC Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures 3. Compare their “gut feelings” to the law How This Experience Can Be Used This experience can best be assigned as an in- and out-of-class exercise. Previous to administering the experience, the instructor may want to: 1. Randomly assign students to groups (4 to 5 mem.) 2. Assign every group a job title from the list below (or you may wish to make up your own list): a. Flight attendant for a commercial airline b. Pilot for a commercial airline c. Flight engineer for a commercial airline d. Nurse e. Police officer f. Accountant g. Credit Manager h. Prison guard for male inmates 3. Ask every student to examine the application blank (Figure 1) relating it to the job title assigned to his or her group. This may be done individually at home. On the day the experience is to be discussed in class, students caucus in their respective groups to reach a consensus on the lawfulness of each item. (Variation: Different groups may be assigned different portions of the application blank if time will not allow for a comprehensive analysis by every group. If you adopt this alternative, each group should be assigned portions of the application on the day the exercise is to be discussed so individually students still examine the whole application blank as homework.) Group decisions may be channeled to the class via spokespersons/round-robin contribution by individual members. To complete exercise 4, students may be referred to Figure 2—Pre-Employment Inquiry Guide. Individually, they may be asked to mark the difference between their groups’ responses and the Figure 2 guidelines by placing an asterisk next to the item where discrepancies are found. Figure 1 with the differences marked, can then be handed in if the instructor so desires. You may want to emphasize two points to minimize student defensiveness: 1. Indicate that you want individuals to identify the difference between group decisions about the application blank items’ lawfulness and the guidelines of Figure 2 and that earlier individual decisions are irrelevant here, 2. Indicate that these are being collected primarily to provide insight to the instructor to make better future use of the exercise. NOTE: “References” and “Sample Results,” including Figures 2 and 3, were omitted due to space limitations. FIGURE 1 Employment Application Blank Application for employment PHOTO Applicants: Your photograph should be submitted only after the interview has been conducted (You must fill out this application to be considered for employ- ment in this company.) 1. Name: Mr. Miss Mrss. __________________ Have you worked for this company under a different name? Yes ___ No ___ 2. Marital status: a. Currently married ___Currently unmarried _____ b. Are you currently pregnant? Yes ___ No ___ 3. If hired, can you submit proof of Age? Yes _____ No _____ 4. a. Do you have any disabilities? Yes_____ No _____ b. If yes, what is the nature of your disability? __________________________ 5. Have you ever received worker’s compensation benefits? Yes______ No_____ 6. a. Height: feet____ Inches____ b. Weight: ____lbs. c. Color of Hair: __________ d. Type of hair: __________ 7. Address: _________________________________________________________ 8. Birthplace of Parents: ______________________________________________ 9. If employed, can you supply a birth certificate? Yes____ No_____ 10. a. Do you observe any particular religious customs? Yes_______ No ________ b. If yes, what customs? ____________________________________________ 11. a. what type of military experience do you have? ________________________ b. What was the type of discharge you received? Honorable _____________ Dishonorable____________ Why (explain briefly) ________________________________________________________________ 12. a. Are you a citizen on the United States? Yes _______ No ________ b. If not, of what country are you a citizen?_____________________________ 13. a. What languages do you speak fluently? ______________________________ b. What is your native language? _____________________________________ 14. a. What is the highest degree you have earned?__________________________ b. what school did you attend for your highest degree?____________________ c. When did you graduate? ______________________ 15. a. Work Experiences: (1) ___________________________________________ (2) ______________________________ (3) ___________________________ b. Explain why you left each of your previous employers. 16. Do you own or rent your place of residence? Own __________ Rent ________ 17. Do you have any overdue bills? Yes________ No ________ 18. Have you ever been arrested? Yes________ No ________ 19. Have you ever been convicted? Yes________ No ________ 20. a. Do any of your relatives work for this company? Yes______ No _______ b. If no, provide a name and address of a relative to be notified in case of an accident or emergency: Name:___________________________________________________________ Address:_________________________________________________________ c. If no relatives exist, provide the name and address of a person to be notified in case of an accident or emergency: Name:___________________________________________________________ Address:_________________________________________________________ 21. List all organizations, clubs, societies, and lodges to which you belong. _______ ________________________________________________________________ 22. Can you supply a recommendation from your pastor after the interview? Yes______ NO_____ 23. Who referred you for this position? ____________________________________ I understand that any misstatements or omissions of material facts in this application may be cause for dismissal. Signature______________________________________________________________ Date__________________________________________________________________ 190 Table of Contents Volume 23, 1996 Modeling Advertising Effectiveness Simulation as an Aid to Learning: How Does Participation Influence the Process? Administering Business Simulations in Transitioning Economies: The Introduction of Simulation Gaming to Estonia Business Simulation Games: Current Usage Levels. A Ten Year Update The Relationship Between Interpersonal and Task Cohesiveness and Performance in a Business Simulation Game The Design of an ITS-Based Simulation: A New Epistemology for Learning Correlates of Learning in Simulations How Do We Know where we're going if we don't know where we have been: A Review of Business Simulation Research Making Cash Flow Come Alive and Sensible in the Classroom Enhancing Simulation Learning through Objectives and Decision Support Systems An Analysis of Deliberate and Emergent Strategies Relative to Porter's Generic Differentiator and Cost Leader: A Bias and Variance Modeling Approach Introducing Ethical Dilemmas into Computer-Based Simulation Exercises to Teach Business Ethics CEO Strategic Locus of Control Effects on Game Performance and Playing Behavior The Relational Database As a Link between Operations and Cost Accounting Goal Setting over Time in Simulations Computerized Business Simulations: A Workshop Exploring the Tutor's Role, Task & Needs Strategic Analysis of the Product Portfolio with the COMPLETE PPA Package: A Strategic Market Planning Tool Draft Standards and Registration Procedure for Assessment Instruments Perspectives on a New Generation of Business Games An Economic Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changing Institutional Norms and Behavior, Not Culture: Experiential Learning Comes to Myanmar Strategic Management and the Case Method: Survey and Evaluation Individual Differences in Internet Attitude and Use Long Live the Plan - or Should It? Examining the Impact of Detailed Strategic Plans on Organizational Performance Do Your Students Really Read the Manual? A Computerized Contextual Tool As A Surrogate for the Traditional Student Manual Pilot Analyses of Self-Peer Evaluations in an Experiential-Exercise Human Resources Management Course Leader Behavior Feedback: A Learning Exercise Dilemma-Dilemma: An Exercise for Teaching Significance Of Communication Computer Mediated Conferencing: Technology and Classroom Learning Multimedia in the Workplace: Who is really using it and where is it Headed? Using Experiential Exercises for Collecting Research Data: Integrating Teaching and Research Interactive Distance Learning as a Tool in a College's Theory and Practice The President's Decision: An Experiential Exercise in Decision Making Integrating Computer Literacy Skills in the Undergraduate Curriculum: The Advanced Accounting Experiment Imperatives for the Transfer of Experience-Based Training Deciding How to Decide The Internet as a Pedagogical Tool Internet Scavenger Hunt Two Management Exercises Based on Committee Work Multimedia in the Year 2000: How Will It Affect Our Lives? Bootstrap Benefit Segmentation: Finally A Way to Teach Benefit Segmentation without Primary Data or Those Fancy Statistical Methods Multimedia and Learning: Is There A Connection? A Changing Business Policy Collaborative Learning Through Real-Life Assignments in Accounting Classes The Necessity Of Incorporating Local Cultural Aspects Into International Business Experiential Exercises Utilizing Cultural and International Landmark Constructs to Assess Business Student's International Awareness Legal Issues related to the Use of Application Blanks: An Experiential Exercise The Family in the Classroom: An Experiential Exercise for Teaching Issues Related To Expatriate Assignments Using Internet Resources to Enhance Teaching of Information Systems Courses: A Demonstration Proposal Chalkboards to Chipboards for Teachers and Consultants How Do We Measure The Learning In Experiential Learning and How Do We Best Simulate It?