Legal Compliance & Ethical Assessment Practices Flashcards

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an employer must provide a 'reasonable accommodation' during assessment when:

Answer: The applicant requests it and has a documented disability

ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with documented disabilities who request them, unless it causes undue hardship.

Which legal doctrine holds that an employment practice violating no explicit law can still be illegal if it disproportionately excludes a protected group?

Answer: Disparate impact theory

Disparate impact theory, established in Griggs v. Duke Power Co., makes facially neutral practices illegal when they disproportionately screen out protected groups and lack job-relatedness.

A KSA assessor discovers that a cognitive ability test has an adverse impact ratio of 0.70 against Hispanic applicants. The FIRST ethical action is to:

Answer: Investigate whether the test is job-related and consistent with business necessity

Adverse impact below the 4/5ths rule triggers a validity review; the assessor must first determine if the test is job-related before taking corrective action.

The Privacy Act of 1974 primarily restricts how federal agencies handle:

Answer: Personal records of individuals

The Privacy Act of 1974 governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally identifiable information held by federal agencies.

Which ethical principle requires KSA assessors to avoid using assessment data for purposes beyond what test-takers were originally informed about?

Answer: Informed consent

Informed consent requires that test-takers know and agree to how their data will be used before assessment, restricting secondary use without re-consent.

A structured interview guide is considered legally defensible primarily because it:

Answer: Ensures all candidates answer the same job-relevant questions

Structured interviews ask all candidates identical, job-relevant questions, supporting consistency and reducing subjective bias that can lead to discrimination claims.

Under EEOC guidelines, which of the following best demonstrates 'business necessity' for a selection procedure with adverse impact?

Answer: The procedure predicts job performance for the specific role

Business necessity is demonstrated by evidence that the selection procedure validly predicts or measures job performance requirements for the specific position.