Considering Your Appeals Process
As stated in the last article, appeals are typically more formal than complaints and there are usually written rules and procedures that govern the handling of appeals. These rules typically spell out how an appellant will go about appealing and how the agency will go about responding to the appeal.
The related rules range from general to very specific and they often can be found written out in the civil service rules for the agency or in a separate document of their own. At times, unions negotiate appeal procedures, but they are not typically part of mandatory subjects of bargaining. At one point in my career, I worked for a police agency that had been rocked by a cheating scandal. To prevent further cheating they created a very onerous and expensive test creation and appeal process that reeked havoc on the ability to develop valid and reliable written tests.
This brings me back to a point I made in the previous article and I will stress again here. If you have written appeal procedures that are not consistent with sound test development and validation strategies, you should consider it a goal to get them rewritten and approved so they do. Truly your rules should work for your test development and validation program and not against it. (more…)
Survey: How Do You Provide Test Scores to Candidates?
Over the years we have received several requests for information pertaining to standards for giving test scores to candidates after testing.
We would like to hear from you on this subject. If you can spare a few minutes of your time to complete the survey linked to below, we’ll be compiling the results and reporting to them back here in future post on the Assessment Services Review.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/
Thank you!
Complaints & Appeals Related to Testing: An Overview
If you have an active selection program that processes large numbers of candidates through successive hurdles type of processes that include written and oral exams, the probability you are going to get complaints and appeals is high. The number you receive and how you handle them is largely within your control. While it is true that most jurisdictions have an appeal process that is spelled out by their Civil Service Rules or other regulations that guide their operations, it is also generally true that these rules are subject to change. So I acknowledge that, for the present time, the manner in which you deal with complaints and appeals may be dictated to you. I would also like to stress that in your role as an HR Professional it is part of your responsibility to do what you can to ensure that your rules reflect current practices and procedures in the field of testing.
You may also have written contracts with unions and/or consultants and test publishers that specify how appeals will be handled and in those cases you are obligated to follow those guidelines during the life of the contracts. However, I still believe the number of complaints and appeals you receive can be minimized by your approach to the testing process. Unfortunately, even though a lot of the finesse involved in handling applicants and their issues must be learned through experience, having good guidelines to follow and a positive customer service attitude can go a long way in mitigating the impact of complaints and appeals. (more…)
Fire Company Officer Tests Updated to New Versions
Due to recent updates to the published source material for our series of Fire Company Officer tests, FCO 101-EM, FCO 102-EM, FCO 103 and FCO 104, we have had to make updates to some of the test questions that appear in those test forms.
As a result of these updates, we are reprinting the tests under new names. The new tests correspond to the old ones as follows:
- FCO 101-EM will now be known as FCO 201-EM
- FCO 102-EM will now be known as FCO 202-EM
- FCO 103 will now be known as FCO 203
- FCO 104 will now be known as FCO 204
If you’ve already distributed the reading lists for any of the FCO 100 series tests then you do not need to take any further action to redistribute a new reading list. When you order your test, just make sure to order the test that matches the reading list you provided to your candidates. We will retain sufficient stock of the existing tests to accommodate those processes that have already begun.
At this point forward, we will be providing the FCO 200 series reading lists. If you’d like to request the new reading list, you may do so here.
Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about this update.
Legal Issue: Pattern or Practice and the Vulcan Society
In May 2013, the Second Circuit issued a ruling in United States and The Vulcan Society, Inc., et al v. City of New York, et al. This is a long running case which started as a disparate impact claim and became a pattern or practice case centered on the city’s entry-level firefighter exam. (more…)
EEOC and the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA)
In May 2013, the EEOC updated guidance documents related to protections against disability discriminations and reflect changes made to the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) relevant to four conditions: cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, and intellectual disability. ADAAA significantly broadens the definition of disability under the ADA. For each of these conditions, individuals should be found to have a disability as each substantially limits major life activities. Additionally, individuals with a history of these conditions are regarded as having a disability under ADA. The updated documents address: (1) when an employer may obtain information from employees and applicants, (2) how to treat voluntary disclosure of a disability, (3) what types of reasonable accommodations an employer can provide, (4) how employers should handle safety concerns about employees and applicants that may related to these disabilities, and (5) what preventative measures an employer may take to prevent disability-based harassment claims.
Reprinted with permission from the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington.