Talent Acquisition Course Syllabus

Course Overview

This course will focus on talent acquisition as you work to complete your training for the aPHR
exam. The Talent Acquisition course will cover an introduction to talent acquisition, how to get
started in talent acquisition, the talent acquisition lifecycle, and finally, negotiations and
onboarding. Throughout this course you will learn many helpful terms and concepts as you
begin learning how to forecast workforce needs, use recruitment resources, and conduct
interviews and onboarding programs for new employees.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course you will be able to:

 Explain the requirements and techniques to recruit and retain talent for an organization.
 Define who the talent is and the recruitment strategy to determine workforce needs
 Explain legislation surrounding recruitment
 Perform a job analysis and write a job description
 Identify the differences between talent acquisition and recruiting
 Describe different methods of recruiting
 Explain the talent acquisition life cycle
 Execute talent acquisition with the job analysis, job description, person specifications, and
competencies
 Identify core elements of negotiation, job offers and employment contracts
 Implement best practices for employee onboarding
 Explain retention activities and strategies that help to retain talent

Talent Acquisition Overview

By the end of each week you will be able to:

Week 1: Introduction to Talent Acquisition

 Define who the talent is and the recruitment strategy to determine workforce needs
 Explain legislation surrounding recruitment (e.g., EEO responsibilities, discrimination laws in
workplace)

Week 2: How to Get Started in Talent Acquisition

 Identify the differences between talent acquisition and recruiting or sourcing that you will use
in your organization
 Implement different methods of recruiting (e.g., talent management system, sourcing through
different platforms, agencies/headhunters, etc.)
 Week 3: Talent Acquisition Life Cycle

 Explain the talent acquisition life cycle (digital recruitment, interviewing styles/formats,
question development for interviews/assessment, hire/not)
 Execute talent acquisition with the job analysis, job description, person specifications, and
competencies

Week 4: Negotiations and Onboarding

 Identify core elements of negotiation, job offers and employment contracts (note: negotiating
remuneration package not just money)
 Explain retention activities and strategies that help to retain talent (note: maybe include
examples of succession planning, coaching, rewards)

Assessments & Activities

Week 1: Introduction to Talent Acquisition

Graded Quiz: Introduction to Talent Acquisition

 For this quiz, you will answer questions based on what you’ve learned about job design,
legislation, and forecasting workforce needs.

Week 2: How to Get Started in Talent Acquisition

Graded Quiz: How to Get Started in Talent Acquisition

 For this quiz, you will answer questions based on what you’ve learned about job descriptions
and recruiting and tracking applicants.

Week 3: Talent Acquisition Life Cycle

Graded Quiz: Talent Acquisition Life Cycle

 For this quiz, you will answer questions based on what you’ve learned about identifying,
interviewing, and evaluating prospective employees.

Week 4: Negotiations and Onboarding

Graded Quiz: Negotiations and Onboarding

 For this quiz, you will answer questions based on what you’ve learned about negotiations,
onboarding, and employee retention.
 Graded Peer Review: Talent Acquisition Project

 In this project, you will apply all of the skills you learned throughout the course in various tasks,
ending with the completion of a full talent acquisition process in the last week. Preparation and
completion of the project happens in stages throughout the second to the fourth week- each
week includes at least one reading with detailed instructions for a project task. The exercises
are as follows:

Week 2

 Self-Review Activity: Formulate a Job Description

 Create a job description out of the provided Position Analysis Questionnaire.

Week 3

 Self-Review Activity: Formulating Interview Questions

 Create a list of interview questions based on the provided scenario.

Week 4

 Self-Review Activity: Create an Onboarding Program

 Continuing with the provided scenario, create an onboarding plan.

The project in Week 4 will ask you to compile all of the work you have done in the previous
exercises in addition to creating your onboarding program, and then submit it for peer review.

How to Be Successful in This Course

Welcome to the Human Resource Associate Professional Certificate! This program is for Human
Resource (HR) professionals or aspiring HR professionals who are new to human resources and
want to start a career in the field.

This reading will help you set yourself up for success in your learning path. It will help you build
a learning framework that includes plans and goals to assist you in successfully completing this
course. As you read through this document, think about your current schedule and what your
goals are for becoming a human resources associate.

Why Take This Course

It is likely you are taking this course because you would like to pursue a career in human
resources. Perhaps you are based in the United States and need to prepare for the Associate
Professional in Human Resources (aPHR) exam to gain an entry-level position in the field and
practice HR in the United States. Or maybe you are drawn to HR because you are passionate
 about helping people, have a business mindset, are a problem-solver, have a strong ethical
composition, are a strong communicator and a multi-tasker, can act impartially, and want to
develop into a leader for an organization. This program will also benefit non-HR Professionals
who want to understand the fundamentals of Human Resources, People Operations or Human
Capital. No prior background in HR is required to be successful in this course.

By the end of this Professional Certificate, you will be able to

 Explain the requirements and techniques to recruit and retain talent for an organization

 Explore different learning methods, applications, and implementation into an organization

 Evaluate the various benefits of total remuneration and technology for an organization

 Review how performance management and feedback impact employee relations in an

organization

 Recognize the risk management and safety measures in an organization

Setting SMART Goals & Managing Time

SMART Goals

Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals is the first
step to being successful in this course.

Specific - My goal clearly states what will be done and who will do it

Measurable - My goal clearly defines how I will measure my progress

Achievable - My goal is realistic and attainable

Relevant - My goal makes sense based on what I want to do

Time-bound - My goal has a timeline for how long it will take to achieve

An example of a SMART goal would be: “My goal for taking this course is to have a job in human
resources in the next 4 months.”

Every person will have their own unique goal that is based on their current life situation, a
timeline that is appropriate to them, and one that is suitable for their lifestyle. Create a SMART
goal that is achievable for you, one that excites you to begin your journey.

Managing Your Time

 Another important part of success is managing your time. Now that you have a goal, set your
plan of action! Making a plan to manage your time will help you stay committed to the course.
This program is designed to be completed in 4-5 months with an estimated 5-10 hours
dedicated to course work per week.

Before you set regular study times, it is helpful to understand how you spend your time. Sit
down with a planner or your calendar app and try to capture everything you do in a typical
week. Track your hours spent at work, family obligations, classes or clubs, hobbies, exercise,
and socializing.

Once you have a clear picture, set your schedule. Look for or create regular blocks of
uninterrupted study time.

1. Begin by thinking about how much time you can commit each week to this program.

 For example: “I am committing five hours per week to my coursework. Given my other
responsibilities, I can dedicate one hour a day to my studies.”

2. Once you have established the amount of time you can dedicate to your studies, it is important
to set specific days and times to focus on your course material. For example:

 “Between 4pm - 5pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I will block off my calendar for study
time. On Tuesday and Thursday between 3pm - 4pm, I will also block off my calendar for study
time.”

Pro Tip: Set up calendar reminders to ensure you have dedicated time set aside to focus on
your coursework.

Set up a Productive Workspace

After you have set up your SMART goal and your learning plan, it is important to think about
how and where you will study. It is wise to choose a specific location that you will have access
to each time you study. It is also important that it is a quiet and relaxing place, with very few
distractors. Good places to study include a local library, your favorite coffee stop, or a quiet
office in your house. Here are a few more tips for setting up your workspace:

 Make sure it’s quiet and away from distractions

 Silence notifications and other devices

 Shut off distractions: turn off the TV, close social media accounts, use an app to restrict your
access to social media sites for a set period of time

Tools for the Job

 Here are a few things to keep in mind as you set up your workspace that will allow you to study
effectively and comfortably:

 Stable internet access

 A laptop or other device that allows you to easily type your assignments

 Note taking app or notebook and writing implement

 A desk or tabletop at a comfortable height

 A chair that supports you for proper ergonomics

 Good lighting to avoid eyestrain and fatigue

What This Program Consists Of

During this program, you will encounter many different learning resources. Here is a list of what
you will see:

 Videos - recording of scenarios and real life situations

 Readings - short written text

 Discussion Prompts - questions for the learner to answer in their own words

 Practice Quizzes - questions about the material, can be repeated for practice

 Real-world simulations - recordings of events that might happen while in the human resources
workplace, guiding the learner on how to respond

Other resources will include the following types of assessments:

 Graded Quizzes - 10 multiple choice questions based on the course material

 Peer Review - an evaluation of your course work

To earn your certificate in this course, you must pass the Graded Quizzes with at least 80% and
complete the peer review.

Forecasting Workforce Needs;

1. Unit Demand: Ask unit heads to provide feedback on volume of business activity
as well as workforce need for those activities. Combine feedback from all unit
heads and analyze.
 2. Trend Projections: Based on organization factors and their trends/projections,
forecast future increase or decrease in workforce demand.
3. Probabilistic Model: These models predict future trends through computer
simulations but they are dependent on the information provided by us and they
are costly.
4. Workload analysis: It is used for prediction of workforce need in near future
depending upon the productivity goals of the organization. First determine the
kind and amount of work needed to achieve the goal, then measure man-hours
required to complete that work and finally measure the labor/workforce
required.
5. Ratio Analysis: It relates the workforce needs with any of the main aspects of the
organization i.e. sales or production etc.
6. Delphi Technique: It depends on the inputs from various experts and
professionals and combining/summarizing their feedback without having a
meeting/discussion among those experts.
7. Nominal Group: It involves discussions/meetings between experts where a
facilitator guides the experts and experts give their inputs to reach a consensus.

Tools for Forecasting Workforce Needs:

1. Job Bidding: If an employee is interesting to change its job within the

organization to a position which is not vacant at present but he possess relevant
qualification for that position, HR will give training to the employee so that
he/she may have the required skills when the vacancy is opened.
2. Succession Plan: It involves identifying the promising employees who can acquire
managerial or executive roles in future and thus preparing them with required
skills, experience and qualification for future roles.
a. Career Pathing: It involves helping employees to draw their long term
professional lives by identifying career steps they need to take to achieve
their professional goals.
3. Dual Career Ladder: Promising employees who are more interested in technical
job rather than managerial roles are offered separate career path with more
advanced technical position. This is used often in technical industries like
engineering, medical etc.
4. Replacement Charting: It categorizes employees into 4 groups;
a. Ready for promotion: Who have required experience, skills and
qualification for higher position;
b. Candidates to be develop for future promotion: These are promising
employees and need some experience or training to get ready for
promotion.
c. Satisfactory in Current Position: These employees perform well in their
current roles but do not demonstrate skills and competency required for
higher positions.
 d. Replace: These employees are not going to sustain in the organization in
long term due to retirement, transfer, poor performance etc and are to
be replaced.
5. Turnover Forecasting: One of the main tasks of HR is to retain good employees
and reduce turnover as turnover is costly. Some important factors for turnover
are job satisfaction, salary, nature of work (monotonous/challenging).
Information about reasons of turnover may be acquired through many ways;
a. Exit Interviews: It explains why an employee resigned or left.
b. Post Exit Surveys: It also explains reason of an employee for leaving.
c. Focus Groups: It gives insight of what current employees think about
their future.
d. Predictive Surveys: It also gives information about thinking of current
employees about their future.

During downsizing, turnover is good as it is planned by organization.

Methods to Forecast Workforce Needs

Forecasting workforce needs is an important skill for human resource professionals as it allows
them to take an organization’s goals and determine the number of jobs to be filled or relieved
to meet those goals.

Methods to Forecast Workforce Needs:

 Unit demand

 Trend projections

 Probabilistic models

 Workload analysis

 Ratio analysis

 Delphi technique

 Nominal group technique

Knowledge of each method to forecast workforce needs will allow you to choose the most
valuable and necessary method in future scenarios.

Unit Demand
Unit managers report on the volume of business activity and how many people are needed to
carry out that activity.
 Trend Projections
Predict future employment needs based on expectations of how particular employment-related
factors may change over time.

Probabilistic Models
Models that predict future conditions using computer simulations.

Workload Analysis
Determines the output or productivity the organization expects to achieve in the immediate
future. Then, employment needs are calculated in reverse.

Ratio Analysis
Examines historical information about the workforce pertaining to a particular facet of the

Delphi Technique
Forecasts future job needs by combining the input and expertise of many professionals who
never meet but come to a consensus over time.

Nominal Group Technique

Uses a panel of experts in a structured meeting to solve a problem.

Although these are examples of methods to forecast workforce needs, you will likely use more
methods in the future. In order for these methods of forecasting. To be effective, you must also
know the different tools used for forecasting workforce needs.

Tools for Forecasting Workforce Needs:

 Job bidding

 Succession planning

 Dual career ladder

 Replacement charting

 Turnover forecasting

Coupling these tools with the previously mentioned methods will allow for a most efficient
examination of the organization’s needs to meet its strategic goals.

Job Bidding
Expressing interest in a position in an organization before that position is available.
 Succession Planning
Identifying promising employees who have the potential to occupy managerial or executive
roles in an organization.

Dual Career Ladder

Identifying a career path that is rich in expertise and cross-training. Employees master two
traditionally disparate roles and then move on to the next phase.

Replacement Charting
Categorizing employees in four ways:

 Ready for promotion

 Developed for future promotion

 Satisfactory in the current position

 Replace

Turnover Forecasting
To review the existing workforce and determine who might leave.

Conclusion

Using these methods to forecast workforce needs with the tools you have learned about allows
human resource professionals to understand workforce needs better. When human resource
professionals better understand workforce needs, they can help organizations more
strategically and efficiently meet their goals.

Outsourcing and Offshoring

Outsourcing and offshoring are a form of organizational restructuring created to provide
benefits and protection to large companies. These practices are hotly debated among labor
activists voicing their concerns about sending American jobs overseas.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a common practice that relies on paying a third-party business to perform a

specific function that does not align with the main company’s ideals. This is used to take
advantage of lower labor rates overseas, allowing companies to save money on labor-intensive
work like customer service, technical support, and computer programming.

For example, a manufacturer might outsource security, food service, or payroll processing. They
might do this to get better quality, lower costs, and freedom from having to manage something
that is not its primary business.
 Offshoring

Offshoring is where a company establishes a foreign subsidiary and transitions from higher-paid
American employees to lower-paid foreign employees. This practice is hotly debated among
policymakers, economists, business people, and the general public.

Economists typically agree that offshoring benefits all countries’ economies. They claim that
allowing the nations that can sell low-cost labor to do so is just as acceptable as allowing those
nations that can sell low-cost wheat to do so. Oppositely, labor activists and others claim that
American companies benefiting from all the legal protections and political support of the U.S.
should not be allowed to avoid the costs of wages, job safety, and environmental laws by
“sending American jobs overseas.” The debate will likely continue, and anyone involved in
global business will be involved in it.

Conclusion

Outsourcing and offshoring both have their advantages, as well as arguments against these
practices. Many argue that these practices allow businesses to avoid the cost of paying wages
and providing job safety to American employees. Understanding the differences between
outsourcing and offshoring as an HR professional is important.

Identifying Independent Contractors

Independent contractors are contracted to do specific work for other people or organizations
and are not considered employees. Independent contractors work project-by-project, even
sometimes working for more than one person or organization at a time.

How to Identify Independent Contractors

 20 Factor IRS Test

 DOL 7 Factors

Understanding the differences and similarities between these two tests is important to
appropriately determine if a person is an employee or an independent contractor.

20 Factor IRS Test

The 20 Factor test the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses to determine if a person is an
independent contractor or employee consists of 20 questions from the SS-8 form.

DOL 7 Factors

The Department of Labor (DOL) depends on seven factors to determine if a person is an

employee or independent contractor.
 Conclusion

Overall, it is beneficial to remain knowledgeable about the deciding factors to identify if a

person is an employee or an independent contractor. As an HR professional, it is important to
determine the difference between employees and independent contractors correctly.

Temporary Work and Employee Rights

Temporary workers are workers who work temporarily for an organization. They can be
independent contractors, employed by an organization, or work for a temp agency, also known
as a temporary staffing agency. An employee is designated as an independent contractor if they
provide their own equipment, have multiple clients, work independently, already have all or
most of the necessary training, set their own hours, and are not required to work on-site.

Oppositely, organizations can also go through temp agencies to hire workers with various skill
sets, which allows organizations to be clear on the type of work they need. When using a temp
agency, an organization puts in a work or job order as a request to the agency. Once the
request has been put in, the temp agency contacts temporary employees who match the
organization’s criteria. Temporary workers can be hired back each year after their contract
ends, allowing for consistent workers as long as rapport is maintained. This form of
employment can benefit many organizations as needs and goals for staffing are identified. Just
like full-time employees, temporary workers are entitled to rights and benefits

Temporary Worker Rights

 Compensation

 Health

 Safety

As an HR professional, it is important to be aware of the benefits that temporary employees are

obligated to receive.

Compensation

Temporary workers are subject to the same overtime and minimum wage requirements that
are established by The Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA. Overtime requirements do not apply
to some seasonal employees and those who work at very small businesses, such as on a farm.
Compensation can take the form of three ways:

1. If an employee works for a temporary agency, the agency is solely responsible for paying the
employee.
2. Temporary employees and independent contractors not employed by agencies are considered
self-employed, and they receive 1099 tax forms. The organization is not responsible for
withholding taxes, like medicare and Social Security. Independent contractors who make more
than $600 in one year must use a 1099-NEC to report their earnings to the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS).

3. A short-term employee can also be paid through an organization’s payroll system and use a W-
2. Taxes and other legally required deductions should be withheld from the employee’s pay.

OSHA mandates that workers’ compensation is covered by either the employer or the temp
agency that provides the employee. If an employer directly hires a temporary employee and
pays them through the organization’s payroll system (generating a W-2), the organization is
responsible for providing workers’ compensation insurance coverage. As each state manages
workers’ compensation programs differently, employers should check with their state labor
department to ensure the organization is complying with state laws.

Health and Safety

Temporary employees are entitled to health and safety protections. Because organizations
must provide all employees, including temporary employees, with safe and healthy work
environments, agencies and employers can be held responsible for unsafe and hazardous
working conditions.

As an example, a temporary employee who is injured after falling out of a forklift can bring a
claim against both the temp agency and the organization for unsafe working conditions.

Temporary employees also have the same protections as permanent employees under state
laws, such as the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA). This means that temp employees are protected and cannot be discriminated against
based on race, age, sex, national origin, pregnancy, religion, or disability, regardless of whether
the employee is hired by the organization or through a temp agency. If an employee works for
an organization, and not a temp agency, the employer will be held liable for any case of
discrimination. However, if an employee was hired by a temp agency and faced discrimination
from an employer, the agency must report the organization to the Equal Opportunity
Commission. If not, the agency may be held liable.

Likewise, temporary workers are protected against sexual harassment, even if they work for
and are paid by an agency. When reporting a harassment complaint, a temporary employee
may use the organization’s complaint process. Examples of harassment can include but are not
limited to inappropriate touching, use of sexually explicit language, and demands to perform
sexual acts. Complaints to an agency can also be submitted.

Finally, employees from other countries, including temporary workers, cannot be denied work if
they meet the job requirements and have the requisite work permits. Some non-immigrant
 workers have special visa provisions to work temporarily in the United States. These employees
are also protected and have rights in the workplace, such as possessing all of their own
documentation. An employer cannot hold a temporary employee’s passport or visa. Also,
temporary employees from other countries cannot be subjected to forced labor, nor can
employers threaten to turn the employee over to immigration officials if they refuse.

Conclusion

Temporary work can be very important among organizations as it is cost-effective and allows
organizations to avoid hiring full-time employees. When an organization hires an employee
through a temp agency, that temp agency is responsible for the employee’s compensation.
However, if a temporary employee was hired directly by an organization, the organization is
required by law to provide compensation, health, and safety benefits. No matter what type of
employee an organization chooses to hire, laws must be followed, and it is your responsibility
as an HR professional to know those laws.

Exempt and Non-exempt Employees

With many different classifications of employees, HR professionals need to understand the key
differences between exempt and Non-exempt employees. Although these two types of
employees are similar, specific provisions in US Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), apply to one
but not the other. An HR professional must understand the differences in applicable
requirements to avoid violating laws and regulations like child labor laws or record-keeping
provisions.

Exempt Employees

Exempt employees are those that are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions
in the FLSA, meaning they do not have to be paid minimum wage or overtime. An employee
must meet all three criteria or "tests'' to be considered exempt.

The employee must:

 Earn more than $684 per week

 Be salaried—that is, not paid on an hourly basis

 Perform certain exempt duties as part of their job

Non-Exempt Employees (must be paid minimum wage)

Non-exempt employees are not exempt from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime pay
requirements. This means that non-exempt employees must be paid at least the federally
mandated minimum wage. They must also be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rates of pay
after 40 hours in a workweek. However, it does not limit the number of hours that employees
 aged 16 and older may work in any workweek. It also does not require overtime pay for work
on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, or regular days of rest, unless overtime is worked on such
days. Most, but not all, workers who are paid by the hour are non-exempt employees.

Record Keeping for Non-exempt Employees

The FSLA requires employers to keep records of wages paid, hours worked, and other relevant
data for each non-exempt employee. For these employees, the following records must be
retained for at least three years:

 Personal information, including employee's name, home address, Social Security number,
occupation, gender, and birth date if under 19 years of age

 Hour and day when the workweek begins

 Total hours worked each workday and each workweek

 Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings

 Regular hourly pay rate for any week when overtime is worked

 Total overtime pay for the workweek

 Deductions from or additions to wages

 Total wages paid each pay period

 Date of payment and pay period covered

The FLSA sets basic minimum wage and overtime pay standards and regulates the employment
of minors, but there are many employment practices which the FLSA does not regulate or
require. These include:

 Vacation, holiday, severance, or sick pay

 Meal or rest periods, holidays off, or vacations

 Premium pay for weekend or holiday work

 Pay raises or fringe benefits

 Procedures for discharging an employee, or immediate payment of final wages to terminated

employees

Exceptions
Some exceptions to the 40-hours-per-week standard may apply, under special circumstances,
to police officers and firefighters employed by public agencies, along with employees of
hospitals and nursing homes. For unclear reasons, jobs that are exempt from overtime
requirements include auto mechanics, cab drivers, railroad and airline workers, television and
radio announcers, and employees of movie theaters.

Also, employees who earn at least $30 a month in tips, such as waitstaff, cab drivers, service
employees, etc., do not have to be paid minimum wage. Employers must pay these workers at
least $2.13 an hour and must show proof that these workers receive at least the applicable
minimum wage when direct wages and the tips are combined. Other exemptions apply to
people under the age of 20, students, and some workers whose earnings and productive
capacity is impaired by a physical or mental disability.

Employees who are paid by the hour can still be exempt if they earn more than $107,432 per
year. Different rules determine whether or not an employee performs exempt job duties. The
most common are called white-collar exemptions. White collar exemptions apply to employees
whose duties are considered administrative, executive, or professional. The professional
category includes doctors, lawyers, teachers, and similar professions.

Child Labor

The FLSA strictly regulates child labor, but it does make a clear distinction between farm jobs
and nonagricultural jobs.

For nonagricultural jobs, such as working in a movie theater, grocery store, or clothing store,
the critical cutoff age is 18. People 18 or older may work at any job, whether hazardous or not,
for unlimited hours. Minors who are 16 and 17 may work at any nonhazardous job for unlimited
hours, such as bagging or carrying out customer’s orders, cleaning fruits and vegetables,
pumping gas, etc.. Minors aged 14 and 15 may work outside of school hours in a limited
number of nonhazardous jobs for a limited period each week. Minors under the age of 14 are
not allowed to do nonagricultural work, with the exceptions of newspaper delivery, acting in
radio, television, movies, or live theater, and working for their parents in a family-owned
nonhazardous business.

For farm jobs, the critical cutoff age is 16. Anyone 16 or older may work any farm job, whether
hazardous or not, for unlimited hours, such as operating or working most farm equipment,
working on a ladder or scaffolding at a height over 20 feet, handling or applying toxic
agricultural chemicals, etc. Minors aged 14 and 15 may work at any nonhazardous farm job
outside of school hours. Minors aged 12 or 13 years may work nonhazardous farm jobs with a
parent’s written consent or on the same farm as the parent(s). Minors under the age of 12 may
perform farm jobs with a parent’s written consent, outside of school hours in a nonhazardous
job, on farms not covered by minimum wage requirements. Minors of any age may be
employed by their parents in any occupation on a farm owned or operated by their parents.
Conclusion

Regardless of which employee is hired, HR professionals must know which employees are
exempt and which are not. The provisions in the FSLA that apply to exempt employees differ
from non-exempt employees. Due to these differences, HR professionals could easily violate the
applicable provisions without proper knowledge.

Legal Issues in Job Design in the US

By now, you are aware of the functionality of Job Design, a tool used to increase productivity, efficiency,
and motivation. Along with Job Design comes legal issues. For an HR professional to effectively and
efficiently use the tool of Job Design, they must also understand the possible legal ramifications.

Legal Issues in Job Design

The main issue attached to job design is associated with equal employment opportunity. The equal
employment opportunity protects employees and potential employees against discriminatory behavior.

US Laws
The following are U.S. Laws put in place to protect employees from legal issues such as equal
opportunity, compensation, benefits, and health and safety on site:

 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

 Age Discrimination in Employment Act

 Americans with Disabilities Act

 Pregnancy Discrimination Act

 Fair Labor Standards Act

 Equal Pay Act

 Social Security Act and the Medicare Act

 Employee Retirement Income and Security Act

 Family and Medical Leave Act

 Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act

 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

 Occupational Safety and Health Act

 Fair Claims Act

 National Labor Relations Board

It is important to remain up-to-date on your knowledge of the compilation of acts put in place to protect
employees from issues such as discrimination, lack of appropriate compensation, safety at work, and
more.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stipulates that it is illegal to discriminate in job descriptions based
on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone age 40 or
older from holding a job in a government agency, in a private enterprise with 20 or more workers, or in a
union with more than 25 members.

Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, prohibits the creation of job duties and tasks that do not
provide reasonable accommodations to potential employees with disabilities.

Pregnancy Discrimination Act

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, or PDA, makes it illegal to discriminate against pregnant people.

Fair Labor Standards Act

The Fair Labor Standards Act mandates that employers specify whether duties and tasks will require
mandatory overtime work and whether the job will pay the legal minimum wage.

Equal Pay Act

If pay is mentioned, it must be equal for men and women based on the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Social Security Act and the Medicare Act

The Social Security and Medicare Act require that all employers report and match payments for Social
Security and Medicare.

Employee Retirement Income and Security Act

The Employee Retirement Income and Security Act, or ERISA, details the rules associated with employee
vesting, and access to and withdrawal from retirement plans.

Family and Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, entitles eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave
for specific family and medical reasons, such as the birth or adoption of a child or to care for an ill family
member.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act

COBRA requires employers to allow employees to purchase a health care coverage extension after an
employee is terminated or resigns.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

HIPAA mandates that, regardless of pre-existing conditions, a worker must be able to switch to a new
job and transfer the insurance from their previous employer to a new insurance program.

Occupational Safety and Health Act

OSHA outlines workplace safety and health rules and regulations to help avoid dangerous work
environments.

Fair Claims Act

According to the Fair Claims Act, if a work environment is legally unsafe, whistleblower protection may
be given to workers asked to perform those duties and tasks.

National Labor Relations Board

Grievances about the duties and tasks to be performed may also be filed with the National Labor
Relations Board, if the organization allows unions to organize.

Conclusion
Many laws, acts, and regulations are put in place to manage the process of Job Design to protect current
and future employees. Although there are many, it is important to remain knowledgeable of each
protection put in place to keep from violating any in the future.