There are a host of high caliber employment lawyers who disagree with you: The requirement to show any test which could be said to have a racially desperate impact is a business necessity is such a high and risky bar that any case brought over it is an automatic settlement.
Any kind of standardized IQ test is going to run into issues because there will be enough data to show statistically that different population groups tend to score lower or higher on it on average and because its scope won't map 1:1 to the business so it can't in and of itself be a necessity.
Not only is it very easy to confirm what I said with a couple Google searches, but I know of huge employers, of the sort that have enormous HR teams, that routinely IQ test applicants. With actual IQ tests. There is no prohibition on IQ testing in US employment.
There are lots of reasons not to do it (I sure wouldn't consider a job that required an IQ test). But there's a mythology that IQ testing is the super-effective recruiting tool that American employers are forbidden to use. No, they don't do it because it sucks ass as a recruiting/qualification tool.
I invite you to get one of those high caliber employment lawyers to post here, or to reach out, and I'll swap notes. But I don't think it's actually the case that high-powered employment lawyers believe that. That, or huge corporations with lots to lose are casually inviting employment lawsuits in order to run candidates through a test that doesn't predict anything.
>There are lots of reasons not to do it (I sure wouldn't consider a job that required an IQ test). But there's a mythology that IQ testing is the super-effective recruiting tool that American employers are forbidden to use.
It's not illegal in the same way it's not illegal to ask the age of your candidate. It's not illegal until it is (in this case, they say their age is > 40 and now any and all actions you take are a legal landmine). The general audience aren't lawyers, so the pedant argument doesn't really mean much in most cases.
>That, or huge corporations with lots to lose are casually inviting employment lawsuits in order to run candidates through a test that doesn't predict anything.
Do you really think all employers are competent? or that companies have perfect oversight of every hiring manager? I've seen (US) postings saying "men/women only" explicitly, discouraging pregnant candidates, and posting salaries below federal minimum wage.
The best "cover" sometimes is that the hiring audience lacks the awareness nor funds to call them out.
If a Fortune 500 company was routinely asking candidates their age, they'd be routinely getting hauled into court in age discrimination suits (they would win those suits, but the ride is worse than the rap). There are Fortune 500 companies that do routinely IQ test candidates. They're not getting hauled into court. Because it's not unlawful to do so, and there's no "aptitude discrimination" in any state's employment law.
Remember, it's not illegal if you don't get called out and caught. The world isn't as perfect a surveillance state and some would want you to believe. Plenty of little evils in the corner that are simply that.
>They're not getting hauled into court. Because it's not unlawful to do so
They're in fact being hauled to court all the time. Because it is unlawful to do so.
You're not hearing about it becase they know they fuck up, so it's easier to settle, and then fire the manager. Why do you think these companies have full time lawyers? They are being sued all the time, in small claims and high profile cases.
No, to all of this. Purveyors of IQ tests for hiring brag about their client lists. It is simply not true that there is a prohibition on IQ testing candidates. There isn't a de jure ban, and there isn't a de facto one. The majority of companies that don't use them made that decision because the tests are stupid, not because they're a form of HR samizdat.
I already addressed the IQ thing, so to be frank I don't care anymore. I have nothing new to add.
I only responded because I don't like the implication in your last response that age discminiation is legal and companies are not in fact routinely sued over incompotent postings. In the company's fairness, they don't have perfect oversight of every manager and every posting. But they pay the price.
That is a pretty black and white area, and I mentioned the few grays already. It still happens. If you were just talking past me to double down on the IQ thing, then my apologies.
I don't understand and think we may be talking past each other. Age discrimination is not legal, and you would likely get in trouble at most big companies for asking candidates their age. Whereas, if you instituted an IQ test for candidates, you would probably brag about it publicly, as companies manifestly do.
Any kind of standardized IQ test is going to run into issues because there will be enough data to show statistically that different population groups tend to score lower or higher on it on average and because its scope won't map 1:1 to the business so it can't in and of itself be a necessity.