Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is any action taken by an employer to overcome discriminatory effects of past or current practices or policies that ... [Show More] create barriers to equal employment opportunity.
Affordable Care Act (ACA)
A federal law passed in 2010, which prohibits insurers from denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions, sets minimum standards for health insurance policies, includes an individual mandate for individuals to have a health insurance policy, and expands Medicaid eligibility for many individuals and families.
Age Discrimination
The denial of rights or privileges or other unfair treatment of someone (an applicant or employee) because of age.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
A federal law that protects workers age 40 and older from employment discrimination based on their age.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
A federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. The ADA ensures equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in all aspects of employment as well as in other public services.
Application
A screening instrument that gathers a large amount of applicant biographical and vocational information for relatively little cost.
BFOQ
Bona fide occupational qualifications are employment qualifications that employers are permitted to consider while making decisions about hiring and retaining employees. However, consideration of these qualities in any other contexts might be deemed discriminatory.
Baby Boomers
People born between 1946 and 1964; in general, they greatly value loyalty, financial security, stability, and a positive work ethic.
Background Checks
A process to verify job-related requirements of the applicant. Background checks include reviewing items such as driving record, criminal record, credit history, and academic records.
Business Ethics
The values and principles that are used to evaluate whether the collective behavior of an organization's members is appropriate.
Cash Plan
Provides for payment of profit shares at regular intervals.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Comprehensive civil rights legislation, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Civil Rights Act of 1991
This Act allows for compensatory and punitive damages for violations of Title VII.
Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1870, and 1871
These acts prohibit employers from discriminating against minorities.
Consequentialist Theories
A consequentialist theory of ethics evaluates the rightness or wrongness of an action based on the consequences of that action.
Content Validity
A method used to confirm that a selection test measures what it is intended to measure by comparing the test to the job description (knowledge, skills, and abilities required to complete a job).
Correlation Coefficient
The correlation coefficient reflects the stability of a test over time—the higher the coefficient of stability, the more reliable the measure.
Culture
A culture represents an organization's value system. It includes factors such as employees' willingness to work, their ethics, how the organization thinks they should be treated, and so on.
Defined Benefit Plan
A retirement plan in which the employer commits (and pays) a specific monthly benefit (or amount) to the employee when the employee retires.
Defined Contribution Plan
A retirement plan in which the employer pays a specific amount, or contribution, to an employee's retirement during each pay period that the employee is with the firm. Both the traditional 401(k) and Roth 401(k) plans are examples of defined contribution plans.
Delphi Technique
A method of group decision-making and forecasting that involves successively collating the judgments of experts.
Deontological Theories
Deontological theories of ethics evaluate the rightness or wrongness of an action based on how well that action conforms to some rule or principle, regardless of the consequences.
Developing Data
The first phase of the process of human resources planning. Developing data includes taking inventories of the current workforce, projecting future needs, and understanding what will be required to meet those needs.
Development
Activities or actions that help an employee prepare for future jobs.
Direct Compensation
The money paid directly to employees in exchange for their work, including wages, salaries, bonuses, commissions, and tips.
Disability
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a disability can include such things as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; a record of such impairment; or being perceived as having such an impairment.
Empirical Validity
Empirical validity (also called statistical or predictive validity) describes how closely scores on a test correlate with behavior as measured in other contexts. [Show Less]
