Hiring Practices and Employment Discrimination

Tim Rowe owns a small trucking firm that specializes in local and metro-area delivery in large city in the United States.
All employment activities are handled by Tim who has always hired employees on the basis of three qualifications:

1. They must have a high school diploma;
2. They must pass a short paper-and-pencil test which is given to all applicants; and
3. They must have a valid driver's license if applying for the position of driver.

The short test is interesting, as it was devised by Tim from sample questions found on a GED (General Degree) Equivalency Test. The test consists of 33 vocabulary and mathematical questions, each worth 3 points. Anyone scoring below 70 is automatically rejected.

Last month two drivers quit, so Tim advertised in the local paper for two new drivers. Ten people applied for the openings, but Tim rejected four applicants because they were not high school graduates. Three others were rejected because of test scores below 70. The two white males hired scored the highest on the test, had high school degrees, and also had valid driver's licenses.
This week Tim was notified that two equal employment complaints had been filed against him and his firm. One complaint, a woman, alleges that the test does not measure a person's ability to drive and is not a valid predictor of job success. The other complaint, a minority man, alleges that the high school diploma requirement is not related to ability to do the job and unfairly discriminates against minorities. Tim is trying to decide how to respond to these complaints.

Questions:

1. If you were an EEO investigator, how would you evaluate this selection procedure?

2. Which requirements might be viewed as job-related?