Abstract
The hiring and recruitment process possess various stages taken by the employers to ensure getting the required candidate for the vacant position. Moreover, pre-employment recruitment activities require employers to consider various laws that aim at providing an equal and fair opportunity for every interested person with limited discrimination. Such laws aim at protecting immigrants, people with disabilities, salary and criminal history, and older individuals above 40 years. The laws play a significant role in ensuring that every person has an opportunity to apply for the announced position regardless of their background. Despite each law have its role and enforce by different institutions and agencies at the federal and state level, the legislation focuses on creating fair employment chances by employers. Notably, the regulations possess positive and negative impacts on the applicant’s and employer’s perspectives.
Employee Recruitment Laws
Employee recruitment concentrates on finding and attracting applicants for open positions within an organization. Moreover, various federal, state, and local laws restrict an employer’s actions when recruiting employees to the firm. Different states and federal regulations through relevant institutions and agencies ensure that employers operate within the set standards while conducting the advertisement of the job opportunities in the organization to prevent discrimination cases on the applicants. Furthermore, regulations ensure that companies practice high work ethics and limit violations of individuals’ rights and freedom in the labor industry. In the United States, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), “Ban the Box” laws, Pay disclosure laws, Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA).
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
The laws significantly apply to the pre-employment recruitment activities required by the federal and state agencies for diverse organizations to follow. According to EEOC (2021), the laws started operating in various organizations during vacancy announcements, which prevents discriminating against people based on the age of the applicants. Across the United States, age discrimination in the hiring and recruiting process exit as illegal and found guilty could experience various consequences (EEOC, 2021). ADEA concentrates on protecting applicants of 40 years and above against discrimination by various employers. Moreover, the law applies to the employee possessing more than 20 employees. EEOC (2021) affirmed that the regulation allows the employers to ask the age and graduation date of the potential employee before the recruitment process, but significant concern arises on how the employers would use the information obtained. Using the information as a bias factor could lead to asking the age in the advertisement of the job illegal. ADEA considers multiple actions by employers as illegal to protect the rights of applicants of age above 40 years (EEOC, 2021). For example, employers cannot use age as a classification or segregation factor during vacancy announcements, which could limit employees in applying for the position since such actions deprive the applicants’ equal opportunity (EEOC, 2021). On the same note, the employer can only take age issues while dealing with employment-related factors but no authenticating qualification for the potential applicants.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
ADA was passed as a law in 1990 to prevent discrimination against people living with different types of disabilities. The regulation applies to all organizations operating in the United States in various sectors (U.S. Department of Labor, 2021). The application of the law starts from the announcement of the position in a firm that significantly focuses on inclusivity with limited biases. The law ensures that people with disabilities have similar opportunities and rights while applying for jobs in diverse working conditions. U.S. Department of Labor (2021) affirmed that the organization should consider the law as it pertains to pre-employment recruitment activities since acting contrary to it could result in various repercussions. Furthermore, ADA provided the applicants with civil rights protections to enjoy various benefits such as application for the open vacancies and various considerations for accommodating people with disabilities. Notably, the law applies to employers with more than 15 employees across all the states. As a result, the law prohibits the employer from asking any medical questions during the application process or before the official offer of the job (U.S. Department of Labor, 2021). Nevertheless, the law requires that employers should not ask applicants if they have any form of disability.
“Ban the Box” Laws
The laws were initially imposed on government employers to protect people against asking about their criminal history. Moreover, various states and cities have changed the laws to apply to both private and public employers (Maurer, 2019). Currently, 35 states have low working, limiting employers in diverse sectors to ask the applicants concerning their criminal history before the official recruitment process. As a result, the employer has a right to ask about the criminal records after the applicant undergoing the interview process and is confirmed as the individual taking the position. As per Maurer (2019), the primary role of the law persists as allowing the qualified applicants to advance to the recruitment stage with limited instances of stigma based on their criminal records, including arrests and convictions. Nevertheless, the law provides interested applicants with a fair and equal opportunity depending on personal skills and experience.
Pay Disclosure Laws
According to Bowman and Stevens (2013), the law prohibits employers from asking the applicants the payment records in previous jobs until and applies in various states in private and public institutions. Bowman and Stevens (2013) asserted that the policy requires employers to announce the vacancies without indicating the provision of salary history, which provides applicants with open chances to apply for the position announced by the organization (Bowman & Stevens, 2013). On the same note, the law prohibits employers from using the applicant’s salary to identify the requirement applicants.
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
IRCA laws prohibit employers from discriminating against applicants of various positions in the organization based on their nationality or nature of citizenship. As a result, the regulation applies across the country with various modification from state to another (SHRM, 2017). Notably, the policy prevents discriminative behaviors by employers, including demanding or requesting extra documents beyond those required while announcing the position (SHRM, 2017). On the same note, the law prohibits employers from having various restrictions on the applicants, more so related to their identification documentation.
Impact of the Laws from Both an Applicant’s Perspective and an Employer’s Perspective
Laws in the labor industry operating in multiple states and cities significantly impact the applicants and employers. Governments require that all private and public employers align with laws to limit biases and discrimination for various interested applicants in the positions. Notably, the laws focus on creating a fairground for the applicants and get hired based on their skills and expertise regardless of their backgrounds. Therefore, violation and observation of the laws significantly affect the applicants and the employers.
ADEA has various consequences on the applicants and the employers. For example, violation of the regulation by the hiring firm would result in different fines, which negatively impacts organizations (EEOC, 2021). Equally, the law facilitates equality and fairness while advertising jobs by employers, forming the culture of multiple private and public organizations. Equally, employers put in measures pertaining to pre-employment recruitment activities. Besides, the law makes the applicants have open chances for applying for various positions regardless of age as protected from age discrimination (EEOC, 2021). Similarly, ADA positively impacts the applicants since individuals can apply for diverse job opportunities with various disabilities without experiencing limitations and biases. Employers have to focus on the policy while conducting their recruitment process, starting from announcing the position to hire new employees. As per the U.S. Department of Labor (2021), the law provides people with disabilities equal opportunities to apply for diverse jobs across the country with limited fear of stigma and biases. On the other hand, the regulation leads employers to align with requirements since deviations and violations during announcements of the job vacancies in private and public institutions would results in a negative outcome such as fines and lawsuits (U.S. Department of Labor, 2021). Therefore, the laws make the employers create a fair system that accommodates different individuals interested in the announced position.
IRCA has various consequences on employers and applicants in private and public organizations in the United States. The law provides immigrants to apply for different jobs in various sectors in the country without worries of facing discrimination due to documentation issues (SHRM, 2017). Besides, the laws positively impact the applicant sending their application letter for open opportunities with high optimism of getting the job regardless of nationality. Moreover, the law has varying impacts on the employers depending on the states and cities in the country. For instance, violations of the law can result in civil fines ranging from $100 to $10,000 and extra expenses in the lawsuit process (SHRM, 2017). Such consequences have facilitated employers to have strategies that align with regulations and prevent any biases based on the applicant’s nationality. Equally, Pay Disclosure Laws to protect the applicants from revealing their previous salaries provided high chances of being called for the subsequent hiring and recruitment y the employer (Bowman & Stevens, 2013). Such laws make the employers limit mentioning the applicants’ salaries during the announcement of position within an organization offers. Nevertheless, “Ban the Box” Laws leads to diverse impacts on the perspective of employer and applicants. As per Maurer (2019), the law provides the employer with an opportunity to require the criminal records of the individuals after officially taking the position. Moreover, the policy assists the applicants with various skills and expertise to apply for the job opportunity without fear of being discriminated against based on their criminal history.
References
Bowman, J., & Stevens, K. A. (2013). Public Pay Disclosure in State Government An Ethical Analysis. The American Review of Public Administration, 43(4), 476-492. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074012445597
EEOC. (2021). The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/age-discrimination-employment-act-1967
Maurer, R. (2019, August 16). ‘Ban the box’ turns 20: What employers need to know. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/ban-the-box-turns-20-what-employers-need-to-know.aspx
SHRM. (2017, May 19). Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/public-policy/hr-public-policy-issues/pages/irca.aspx
U.S. Department of Labor. (2021). Americans with Disabilities Act. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/disability/ada
