Avoid Disparate Impact Claims -- Recent Court Cases Change Hiring and Testing Best Practices

Recent U.S. Supreme Court and Circuit Court cases involving the hiring and promotion of firefighters have dramatically altered the way in which some employers must approach testing and will have broad impact on how many employers use tests in connection with hiring and promotion decisions. Their impact affects both private and public employers. Human resource professionals as well as hiring mangers will have to know how these rulings impact their current hiring practices and make changes to how applicants are chosen.

This 90-minute interactive webinar will cover the major changes that HR and hiring managers must make, how these changes might affect current hiring practices, especially with pre-employment testing, and what employers can do to minimize potential disparate impact and disparate treatment lawsuits.

Learning Points:

• What immediate changes must employers make concerning hiring?
• Must employers completely change the way they do pre-employment testing?
• Should you refrain from asking applicants questions that may lead to a disparate impact, and what questions specifically to avoid?
• Must employers alter the means that they use to hire for certain skills?

Katharine Parker
Katharine Parker is a Partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Employment Law Counseling & Training Group and Government Relations & Contract Compliance Group at Proskauer. Katharine has extensive experience litigating employment disputes of all types, including claims alleging race, age, disability, and sex discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, violations of wage and hour laws, and breach of contract. She has represented employers in single and multiple plaintiff, collective action, class action, and EEOC pattern and practice cases before federal and state courts and administrative agencies, and in various arbitration forums. Complementing her employment practice, Katharine represents employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries and/or service providers in connection with lawsuits arising from single participant benefit claims and class actions. She has litigated the full range of employee benefit-related matters, including claims for medical, long-term disability, and pension benefits, as well as breach of fiduciary duty, in connection with the administration of 401(k) and other benefit plans and investments of plan assets. Katharine speaks and writes on a variety of topics, including the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, glass ceiling litigation, Title VII, ethics in employment law, ADA, FLSA, whistleblowing laws, internal investigations, and the FMLA. She also conducts management training with regard to EEO and anti-harassment laws, as well as hiring, evaluating, and terminating employees.

Lawrence Z. Lorber
Lawrence Z. Lorber, a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Proskauer, is an experienced employment law practitioner who counsels and represents employers in connection with all aspects of labor and employment law. He advises employers with respect to equal employment opportunity issues, affirmative action, including Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and Department of Labor audits, wage and hour issues, employment aspects of corporate mergers and acquisitions, and employee discipline and the preparation of employee handbooks and human resource policies. He also advises clients with respect to government contract issues. Larry conducts employee investigations and advises clients with respect to Congressional and regulatory matters. He also represents employers and executives with respect to employment contracts and severance arrangements. Larry frequently has testified before Congress on a wide variety of proposed employment legislation, including various employment and benefit initiatives, and has written on employment and discrimination issues. He also has appeared on the BBC, NPR, ABC and various radio and cable broadcasts.