1.2.0.1: Staff Recruitment

 

Staff recruitment should be based on a policy of nondiscrimination with regard to a person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 years or older), disability, and genetic information, as required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (EEOA). Centers should have a plan of action for recruiting and hiring a diverse staff that is representative of the children in the facility’s care and people in the community with whom children are likely to have contact as a part of life experience. Staff recruitment policies should adhere to requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) as it applies to employment. The job description for each position should be clearly written, and the suitability of an applicant should be measured with regard to the applicant’s qualifications and abilities to perform the tasks required in the role.

Reasons to deny employment include

 

1. The applicant or employee is not qualified or is unable to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodations;
2. Accommodation is unreasonable or will result in undue hardship to the program;
3. The applicant’s or employee’s condition will pose a significant threat to the health or safety of that individual or of other staff members or children.

 

RATIONALE

In staff recruiting, the hiring pool should encompass the neighborhood of a child’s residence and location of the facility, to reflect the diversity of the people with whom the child can be expected to have contact as a part of life experience.

Child care businesses must adhere to federal law, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and the American with Disabilities Act, in their hiring practices.

The goal of the ADA in employment is to reasonably accommodate applicants and employees with disabilities, to provide them equal employment opportunity, and to integrate them into the program’s staff to the extent feasible, given the individual’s limitations. Under the ADA, employers are expected to make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. Some disabilities may be accommodated, whereas others may not allow the person to do essential tasks. The fairest way to address this evaluation is to define the tasks and measure the abilities of applicants to perform them (1).

 

COMMENTS

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not enforce the protections that prohibit discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation, status as a parent, marital status, or political affiliation. However, other federal agencies and many states and municipalities do. For assistance in locating your state or local agency’s rules, go to www.eeoc.gov/field.

Caregivers/teachers can obtain copies of the EEOA and ADA from their local public library. Facilities should consult with ADA experts through the US Department of Education–funded Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers throughout the country. These centers can be reached by calling 1-800-949-4232 (callers will be routed to the appropriate region) or by visiting www.adata.org.

 

TYPE OF FACILITY

Center, Early Head Start, Head Start, Large Family Child Care Home, Small Family Child Care Home

REFERENCES

1. US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section. Commonly asked questions about child care centers and the Americans with Disabilities Act. https://www.ada.gov/childqanda.htm. Published March 2017. Accessed June 25, 2018

NOTES

Content in the STANDARD was modified on 08/28/2018