Voluntary certification and the Uniform Guidelines on Selection Procedures: A potential problem for personnel managers

Employers in health care sometimes rely upon various standardized testing procedures in selecting, promoting, and training personnel. Within the health professions, voluntary certification programs have developed to permit individuals to demonstrate competence and become recognized as qualified practitioners. This article addresses the problems which can occur, but are not widely recognized, when employers use voluntary certification examinations in the selection process.

The impact of the federal government's “Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures” upon voluntary certification activities is uncertain at best, and frightening, at worst. While the Guidelines require employers to use only validated examinations where adverse impact upon protected minority groups exists, they do not effectively address the use of professional certifying examinations and fail to provide guidance for either certifying agencies or employers. This leaves great potential for conflict, since circumstances in which employment is terminated, an employee denied promotion, or even denied opportunities for entry into positions based on an employer's use of voluntary certifying examinations, are increasing daily. How does an employer validate a national certifying examination that he does not administer? How does the certifying agency protect itself from allegations of discrimination or anti-trust violations based on actions of an employer with whom the agency has no contact?

This article offers no answers to these troublesome questions. However, it may help eliminate another problem noted by the author — widespread ignorance of the seriousness of these circumstances for employers and certifying agencies. From first-hand experience and research into the development of the Uniform Guidelines, the author points out many of the difficulties which await those who rely on non-validated examinations or choose to ignore the government's edict that examinations used in selection must have a demonstrated relationship to the job. Finally, the article proposes solutions to the dilemma faced by certifying organizations and suggests that, by becoming more aware of the Uniform Guidelines, employers and testing groups have the opportunity to protect themselves before a problem occurs.