New Firefighter Testing Law
In July of this year, Governor Quinn signed into law
amendments to the Illinois Municipal Code and the Fire Protection District Act
that require written (“mental aptitude”) examinations given to applicants for
firefighter positions to be “supported by appropriate validation evidence and
[to] comply with all applicable state and federal laws”. Specifically,
the law provides, “[m]inimum scores should be set by the [appointing authority,
either the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, the Board of Fire
Commissioners, the Civil Service Commission or the Illinois Joint Labor and
Management Committee] so as to demonstrate a candidate’s ability to perform the
essential functions of the job. The minimum score set by the [appointing
authority] shall be supported by appropriate validation evidence and shall
comply with all applicable state and federal laws.”
This month, fire chiefs around the state have received letters from the
Attorney General’s office notifying them of the changes in the law and
explaining why the law was changed. Under previous law, the letter says,
the appointing authority was required to set passing scores for written
examinations at the median score of applicants who took the test. The
letter says, however, that the U.S. Department of Justice recently investigated
the impact of this method of setting written examination cut-off scores and
concluded that it had a disparate impact on females and minorities without
measuring whether an excluded applicant had the requisite qualifications to
perform the job of firefighter. Accordingly, the law in Illinois has now
been changed to require the appointing authority to set cut-off scores for
written firefighter examinations based on what the statute calls “appropriate
validation evidence”.
“Validation evidence” (or, more accurately, evidence of validity) derives from
the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, published jointly by
the U.S. government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Civil Service
Commission, Department of Labor and Department of Justice. The purpose of
validity evidence is to show that the test measures what it is supposed to
measure. To accomplish this purpose, three types of validity evidence are
recognized by the Uniform Guidelines – criterion-related validity, content
validity, and construct validity. The new law, presumably, requires the
appointing authority to use one of these types of validity evidence to support
the setting of a cut-off score at a point giving rise to a reasonable
presumption that those who achieve at least a minimum score on the test meet
the minimum requirements for the position that are measured by the test, while
those who do not achieve at least the minimum score do not meet those
requirements.
Under the law, a test that has a disparate impact on females and minorities may
be held to be unlawful unless that test can be shown to be job-related; that
is, it must be shown to measure knowledges, skills and abilities required by
the job. A test that is “validated” is one that has been shown by
evidence of validity to be job-related and therefore not discriminatory even if
the test proportionately disqualifies females and/or minorities.
The new amendments do not require that the appointing authority abandon
existing eligibility lists. But written firefighter tests given after
July 16, 2014 must meet the requirements of the new amendments; specifically,
the Attorney General’s office says, “[e]valuation of written examination
performance based on the median score of test takers should no longer be used.”
While the law does not necessarily require it, it is anticipated that a number
of jurisdictions will retain the services of professionals, such as industrial
psychologists, experts in psychometrics, and labor economists, to develop the
methods and procedures necessary to obtain evidence of validity.
Municipalities with fire departments and fire protection districts are
urged to seek advice of counsel as to the extent and timing of their
obligations to comply with the new amendments and the methods best utilized in
their particular circumstances to achieve compliance.
Post Originally Authored by Darcy Proctor for The Workplace Report
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