Discriminatory hiring allegations: Special Concerns

Statistical analyses involving hiring allegations tend to present a number of special issues. First, it is not uncommon for organizations to keep only cursory records on individuals who apply for a given job position. Consequently, special attention must be dedicated to the construction of the relevant applicant pool in these types of employment cases. In some instances in hiring analyses, the employer level hiring data is augmented with labor market availability information from government and other publicly available sources to provide a more probative analysis.

Second, in addition to the data issues in hiring cases, the definition of the relevant pool of qualified applicants is typically an issue of concern for the statistical expert. Generally speaking, it is important for the expert to ensure that the hiring analysis compares individuals who, but for their protected class status, would have a comparable probability of being hired. For example, in a case involving allegations of gender discrimination in faculty hiring at a university, factors such as the individual’s prior research and teaching experience would be factors to potentially consider in the construction of the qualified applicant pool.

Third, it is important to consider each of the stages that comprise a typical employer’s hiring process as well as the different factors that may effect the individual’s decisions at each stage of the hiring process. For example, many employers’ hiring processes are comprised of distinct stages that may include the application stage, interview stage, testing stage, and ultimately the selection stage. It is important to clearly define the hiring stages, as well as to determine the number of applicants in both the protected and non-protected group who are not only qualified but are truly interested, potential job candidates for the given position.