Read the Module 2 Case and in-depth scenario 1. Draft a short memo to the founders of HSS to address the issues with the hiring practices. Specifically, address what laws or regulations may apply, organizational risks and discuss suggestions for how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified.

MODULE 2 CASE AND IN-Depth SCENARIO

Module 2: Surveying the Human Resources Management Legal Environment

In your role as the new human resources manager for Human Solutions Software (HSS), you have been talking informally to many of the employees at HSS. There are several issues that have come up in your discussions.

When HSS first started more than two years ago, the hiring practices were haphazard. The main method of recruiting new employees was to ask current HSS employees if they knew anyone who had the qualifications that HSS needed. It was common practice to hire family members and friends of established employees. Those practices are still being used today and have been institutionalized by providing bonuses to employees who refer people to apply for positions at the organization, who are eventually hired. In some cases, jobs appear to have been created to fit with the qualifications of people whom some of the founders wanted to hire.

You have also been struck by the demographic characteristics of the employees. There are roughly an equal number of men and women working for HSS, but men fill most of the higher- level positions. Two of the founders are women, but there is a great deal of tension between these two women and the other three founders. This tension seems to be based on the two women wanting to set up a corporate structure that the men see as taking power from the founders. It seems that the new HR department is one of the changes that is in contention.

There is also a lack of minority employees. The two African American and three Hispanic employees are working in lower-level positions.

In-Depth Scenario 1

This morning you received a notice from the local office of your state employment security office that a complaint has been filed against HSS. It appears that before you started as the human resources manager for HSS, several people were interviewed for a mid-level software developer position. The position was not advertised publicly, but several people applied for the position. The person hired for the position is a friend of one of the organization's founders. He is a 38- year-old male. Other applicants for the position included the wife of one of the supervisors of software development and a 54-year-old woman who is a friend of one of the female founders.

The woman who is a friend of one of the founders and was not hired is upset, and she filed the complaint because she feels that she is better qualified than the person who was hired. She has a bachelor's degree and 11 years of experience developing software. The man who was hired has an associate's degree and five years of experience developing software.

After receiving the notice, you have made some informal inquiries as to what the reasons were for hiring the successful applicant. The founder who handled HR issues before you were hired confides in you that he did not want to hire anyone in their fifties because he wanted someone who could "grow" with the company. The female founder who is the friend of the person who filed a complaint is outraged that her friend was not hired. You talked to one of the software development supervisors who was involved in hiring for the position, and he told you that he wanted to hire the person who was hired because the person who was hired had experience that was more directly related to the type of software that needed to have developed.

The founders are aware of the complaint and want you to educate them on the situation. They want you to inform them as to what laws or regulations may apply and to come up with suggestions as to how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified. Draft a short memo in which you address the following

• What laws or regulations may apply

• The organizational risks of the current hiring practices

• Propose suggestions for how the hiring practices at HSS should be modified.

  Be sure to provide good sources to support your suggestions.