HR Specialist: Employment Law

Clear, common-sense employment law advice that cuts directly to the bottom line. An attorney may say what the law is – but the monthly issues of HR Specialist: Employment Law and its related weekly e-letters explain what managers and human resource professionals should do that is both safe and practical in the real world of business. Learn more about HR Specialist: Employment Law and the two free reports you'll get when you subscribe...

Remind managers that it's illegal to make hiring decisions based on a person's race or ethnicity, even if that race is assumed because of the applicant's name. A high-profile study raises awareness of bias among employees and may arouse the suspicions of courts and government regulators.

The study: Researchers from the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent fake rÈsumÈs in response to 1,300 help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago. Apart from their names, applicants reported the same experience, education and skills.

The results: 11 percent of applicants with "white-sounding" names, like Kristin and Brad, were called for interviews, compared with only 6.7 percent of those with "black-sounding" names, like Tamika or Tyrone.