KSA Legal Compliance & Ethical Assessment Practices 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an employer must provide a 'reasonable accommodation' during assessment when:
- The applicant requests it and has a documented disability (Correct answer)
- The accommodation would increase test scores by at least 10%
- The position requires no physical abilities
- The HR director personally approves each case
Correct 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.
Question 2: Which legal doctrine holds that an employment practice violating no explicit law can still be illegal if it disproportionately excludes a protected group?
- Quid pro quo liability
- Disparate impact theory (Correct answer)
- Constructive discharge
- Respondeat superior
Correct 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.
Question 3: 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:
- Discontinue the test immediately
- Investigate whether the test is job-related and consistent with business necessity (Correct answer)
- Adjust scores to eliminate the disparity
- Report the finding to the EEOC without further analysis
Correct 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.
Question 4: The Privacy Act of 1974 primarily restricts how federal agencies handle:
- Trade secret information
- Personal records of individuals (Correct answer)
- Classified national security data
- Intellectual property in assessments
Correct 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.
Question 5: Which ethical principle requires KSA assessors to avoid using assessment data for purposes beyond what test-takers were originally informed about?
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Informed consent (Correct answer)
- Confidentiality
Correct 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.
Question 6: A structured interview guide is considered legally defensible primarily because it:
- Eliminates the need for written documentation
- Ensures all candidates answer the same job-relevant questions (Correct answer)
- Reduces interview time and cost
- Allows interviewers to probe personal background thoroughly
Correct 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.
Question 7: Under EEOC guidelines, which of the following best demonstrates 'business necessity' for a selection procedure with adverse impact?
- The procedure has been used for more than five years
- The procedure predicts job performance for the specific role (Correct answer)
- Competing organizations use the same procedure
- The procedure was developed by a licensed psychologist
Correct 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.
KSA Legal Compliance & Ethical Assessment Practices 2
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an employer must provide a 'reasonable accommodation' during assessment when: