Challenging the Myths of Fair Employment Practices

This book is a practical guide to the development and use of selection procedures for those who are concerned with human resource management, but who are not necessarily specialists in personnel testing. Dr. Barrett explains how to improve the quality of the work force with the most modern techniques while avoiding unfair discrimination against minorities, women, older workers, and the disabled. He challenges myths that have grown up in the past 30 years which interfere with the use of valid and fair selection procedures. Topics include: historical and legal background, cognitive and non-cognitive selection procedures, validity, and measuring and reducing adverse impact. Although he concentrates on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, there is special treatment of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age of Discrimination in Employment Act.

Clearly written and informal, this book is every bit as professionally sound as his earlier book, Fair Employment Strategies in Human Resource Management. It removes part of the mystique about tests with many illustrations of good and bad practice. Besides being useful to human resource executives, it is a valuable supplementary text for graduate and undergraduate courses in personnel management. Attorneys would also find it especially valuable because the author documents its point with citations to important cases and the the Uniform Guidelines.

RICHARD S. BARRETT is Principal of Barrett Associates, a consulting firm specializing in fair employment issues. He has held professorships at New York University and Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr. Barrett has also testified in cases argued before the Supreme Court and worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where he participated in writing the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. He has authored, coauthored, and contributed to ten previous books.