Legal & Ethical Issues in Recruiting Flashcards

A recruiter uses an AI screening tool that consistently ranks female candidates lower for engineering roles. Under Title VII, this most likely represents:

Answer: Disparate impact discrimination if not validated for job-relatedness

AI tools that produce discriminatory outcomes can create disparate impact liability under Title VII if they are not validated as job-related and consistent with business necessity.

What is the primary purpose of an offer letter contingency clause related to background checks?

Answer: To allow the employer to rescind the offer if the check reveals disqualifying information

Contingency clauses in offer letters protect employers by making employment conditional on satisfactory results of background or reference checks.

Which of the following questions is ILLEGAL to ask during a job interview in the United States?

Answer: What year did you graduate from high school?

Asking graduation year is a proxy for age and can violate the ADEA, which protects workers 40 and older from age discrimination.

Under the CAN-SPAM Act, a recruiter sending commercial recruitment emails must:

Answer: Include a physical mailing address and honor opt-out requests within 10 business days

CAN-SPAM requires commercial emails to include a valid physical address, a clear opt-out mechanism, and prompt processing of unsubscribe requests within 10 business days.

A recruiter learns through social media that a candidate is pregnant before an interview. The ethical approach is to:

Answer: Disregard this information entirely and evaluate the candidate solely on qualifications

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibits using pregnancy status in hiring decisions; recruiters must ignore such information and base evaluations strictly on job-related criteria.

Which best describes the ethical obligation of a recruiter when a candidate's stated salary expectations far exceed the budgeted range?

Answer: Disclose the actual range early so the candidate can make an informed decision

Transparency about compensation ranges respects candidate time, builds trust, and aligns with ethical recruiting standards—and is increasingly required by salary transparency laws.

A staffing firm recruiter agrees to only send candidates of a specific race to a client who informally requests it. This arrangement is:

Answer: Illegal for both the client and the staffing firm under Title VII

Both the client requesting racially exclusive candidate referrals and the staffing firm complying are violating Title VII; the 15-employee threshold applies to the staffing firm's own employment decisions, not third-party discrimination.