Human Resource: Discuss ethics and technology in pre-employment testing

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Many employers like to use pre-employment tests as a way to screen out applicants who are not suitable for the job. These tests include skills tests, aptitude tests, psychological tests, personality tests, honesty tests, medical tests, and drug tests.

Although you are allowed to do some testing of applicants, both state law and federal law impose numerous restrictions on what you can do. These restrictions are often vague and open to contradictory interpretations. As a result, you should only use tests that are absolutely necessary and, unless the test is as basic as a typing test, you should consider consulting with a lawyer before administering the test to make sure that it will pass legal muster in your state.

For all tests, you must take care to avoid discriminating against applicants who are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. To ensure that people with disabilities are not unfairly screened out by your test, the test must accurately measure people's skills, not their disabilities. Ways to do this include the following:

Â? Avoid tests that reflect impaired mental, sensory, manual, or speaking skills unless those are job-related skills that the test is trying to measure. For example, even though a typing test is a manual test that will screen out people who cannot use their hands, it is acceptable in cases where the job you are filling is for a typist.
Â? Accommodate people with disabilities by giving them a test that is neutral as to their disability whenever possible. For example, if you are giving a written test to applicants for a sales position to test their knowledge of sales techniques, you can offer to read the test to a blind applicant. This is a reasonable accommodation because sight is not required for the job, but it is required to take the test.

Skills tests range from something as simple as a typing test to something as complicated as an architectural drafting test. Generally speaking, these tests are legal, as long as they genuinely test a skill necessary for the performance of a job.

Some employers use written tests -- usually in a multiple choice format -- to gain insight into applicant's general abilities, personality, and/or psyche. These tests are only rarely appropriate, and the use of them leaves you vulnerable to various types of lawsuits. For example:

Â? A multiple choice aptitude test may discriminate against minority applicants or female applicants because it really reflects test-taking ability rather than actual job skills.
Â? A personality test can be even riskier. Besides its potential for illegal discrimination, such a test may invade a person's privacy by inquiring into topics that are personal in nature, such as religious beliefs or sexual practices.
Â? In addition to issues of discrimination and privacy, psychological tests are treated like medical ...