Camille Olson Quoted in HRfocus

The September 2006 issue of HRfocus Magazine features an article entitled “The Internet Brings Risks and Challenges to Hiring,” which examines equal opportunity, diversity, and privacy issues that arise as a result of the electronic recruitment process.

The Internet is delivering on its promise to help in recruiting and hiring--but it is bringing some challenges with it that HR professionals should be aware of and prepared to deal with, according to Camille Olson, an attorney with Seyfarth Shaw. The age of electronic recruiting poses new legal requirements on employers, Olson said. For instance, new regulatory guidelines from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) identify precisely who qualifies as an Internet "applicant."

The EEOC and other federal agencies are expected to put similar guidelines in place to define which candidates are considered an internet applicant.  Although primary concern is over the collection and maintenance of demographic information for internet applicants, another surprising legal trap can be the overuse of employee referral programs. These programs are being targeted by the EEOC as potential sources of disparate impact, the attorneys said. "Firms are recruiting by word of mouth and wondering why everyone looks the same," Olson said. "This is an issue we see a lot in litigation. The EEOC is really focused on it." Because employee referral programs tend to replicate the demographic makeup of the existing workforce, they are especially problematic for established companies at which there has been a shift in the surrounding community demographics over the years, Olson explained. Existing employees tend to refer candidates who look just like they do, she said, and who do not reflect the new diversity of the surrounding applicant pool.

The EEOC does not need to find victims of such discrimination, but can conduct a simple statistical analysis to prove disparate impact, she explained. Olson advises employers to avoid this problem by determining the makeup of the potential applicant pool in a two-to-10 mile radius using census data and to consider whether their chosen recruitment methods might discourage diversity. Employers wishing to avoid recruiting and hiring legal problems also should take a good look at their advertising campaigns for potential age, sex, or race bias. She cautions employers using pictures in their employment ads to make sure the images reflect a wide variety of ages, races, and ethnicities.