"Competency" Testing used as a termination tool!!

System

A friend called me asking for advise: His company is issuing competency tests to all managers. If you fail the test, you lose your job, no matter how stellar your work hx has been.

My friend has worked there for seven years and has never missed a single day of work. He is adored by his staff. He has always exceeded his quotas (he works in the retail industry). However, he has never been a good "test taker".

The tests will not be identical - one big problem with that is how do you determine scoring when the tests aren't the same? Since they aren't the same, how can his company determine that they were fair?

His question is that IF he flunks and loses his job, does he have any kind of recourse? I think that he does because everyone is not being treated fairly...Kerry

Down_the_Middle

Yikes.....It never ceases to amaze me what some employers do to shoot themselves in the foot!!! And HR wonders why we get goofy laws passed by Congress......... I think your "friend" will be better served by chatting with a labor attorney who can look at things like disparate impact, job relatedness, how the test is communicated, is there recourse if you fail, etc..... This employer is probably too small to fall under too many state or federal statutes, but it sounds as though this test is being to used to address other issues that are probably not relevant to the workplace. I'd advise him to look for a 21st century employer who understands recruitment and retention issues.

System

Believe it or not, he works for a nation-wide employer with more than 20,000 employees with the headquarters in Chicago -- he works at an Iowa branch! It sounded like to me that his company (I don't want to say who it is) is trying to cut the fat without initiating a layoff & the ensuing publicity, which would make their stock price tumble.

I agree with your opinion about seeking legal advice - thanks. I think he and his fellow managers are getting, frankly, screwed. --Kerry

TheCol

Ditto the foot-shoot comment!
There's a hidden agenda to me. I would recommend he take the test and have fun with it. Do the best he can, of course. Then see what actions or outcomes evolve. Management may be after another person down the road and they are just laying in a base line at the present time. Since he has been there so long, maybe he has a friend at the yet-higher office in the organization he can talk to for some insight and let the 'higher-ups' know. This does two things: 1. Sets the ground work for his own reclama, if needed and 2. exposes an idiot.

Gillian

Not much more needs to be said. Make sure that the attorney that your friend finds understands testing concepts such as job analysis and validity. There should be some sort of analysis of what has changed in these jobs to justify the testing - I am assuming that the tests test compentencies at a higher level that what the job really has. The main difficulty in turning this into a discrimination issue is that the testing can only be used against the employer if there is adverse impact against a protected group. I am not sure what other grouds there might be. A good place to find the legalities of testing is the Uniform Guidelines on Selection Procedures, a numbingly technical document about testing but which describes the issues. The Guidelines were published in 1978 by the EEOC, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management. If the attorney really understands testing issues, he or she will know about this document.

Gar

In North Carolina and other states teachers have to take competency tests. So, why not other kinds of employees? Because of the so-called "halo effect," you can't rely only on performance evaluations to weed out those who aren't cutting it. As long as the tests are validated by a testing firm, as long as they are job-related and an adverse impact analysis (80% rule) of the final scores determines there is no harm to a protected group, I say go for it.