CMM Human Resources Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A medical practice manager receives a complaint that a physician is creating a hostile work environment for clinical staff. What is the FIRST step the manager should take?
- Terminate the physician immediately
- Document the complaint and conduct a preliminary fact-finding investigation (Correct answer)
- Ignore the complaint since physicians are not under HR authority
- Inform all staff of the complaint to gather more witnesses
Correct answer: Document the complaint and conduct a preliminary fact-finding investigation
The first step is to document the complaint and conduct a preliminary fact-finding investigation before taking any disciplinary action.
Question 2: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a medical office must provide reasonable accommodation unless it causes:
- Minor inconvenience to other employees
- Any additional cost to the employer
- Undue hardship on the organization (Correct answer)
- Disruption to normal workflow
Correct answer: Undue hardship on the organization
The ADA requires reasonable accommodation unless it would cause undue hardship, defined as significant difficulty or expense relative to the employer's resources.
Question 3: Which compensation strategy pays employees based on the skills and knowledge they possess rather than the specific job they perform?
- Merit pay
- Skill-based pay (Correct answer)
- Incentive pay
- Broadbanding
Correct answer: Skill-based pay
Skill-based pay rewards employees for the breadth and depth of skills they acquire, encouraging cross-training and flexibility.
Question 4: A medical practice's succession planning program is PRIMARILY designed to:
- Reduce payroll costs over time
- Identify and develop internal candidates for key leadership roles (Correct answer)
- Eliminate the need for external recruitment
- Determine which positions to eliminate during downsizing
Correct answer: Identify and develop internal candidates for key leadership roles
Succession planning focuses on identifying and grooming internal talent to fill critical positions when vacancies arise.
Question 5: When calculating an employee's overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the rate must be at least:
- Equal to their regular hourly rate
- 1.25 times their regular rate of pay
- 1.5 times their regular rate of pay (Correct answer)
- 2 times their regular rate of pay
Correct answer: 1.5 times their regular rate of pay
The FLSA requires that non-exempt employees receive at least 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
Question 6: A medical office manager wants to reduce bias in the hiring process. Which structured interview technique is MOST effective?
- Asking open-ended personal questions to assess culture fit
- Using the same predetermined questions for all candidates (Correct answer)
- Relying on first impressions to gauge candidate suitability
- Allowing each interviewer to develop their own unique questions
Correct answer: Using the same predetermined questions for all candidates
Using the same predetermined questions for all candidates ensures consistency and reduces subjective bias in the evaluation process.
Question 7: Which of the following is an example of disparate impact discrimination in hiring?
- An interviewer making offensive remarks to a minority applicant
- A neutral employment test that disproportionately screens out a protected class (Correct answer)
- A manager refusing to interview an applicant due to their religion
- Posting a job ad that specifies a preferred age range
Correct answer: A neutral employment test that disproportionately screens out a protected class
Disparate impact occurs when a facially neutral policy or practice disproportionately excludes members of a protected class, even without discriminatory intent.
A medical practice manager receives a complaint that a physician is creating a hostile work environment for clinical staff.
What is the FIRST step the manager should take?