Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures Should Be Reviewed and Revised

Gao ID: FPCD-82-26 July 30, 1982

The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures describe the federal government's position on how tests should be used in making employment decisions which are consistent with federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws. This review was made because GAO believes that the guidelines: (1) are important to EEO enforcement; and (2) have been publicly criticized by some of their users. The objective of the review was to determine whether those responsible for administering the guidelines and those who used them were experiencing any problems in their application.

In the opinion of GAO, the importance of the guidelines to EEO enforcement is not at issue. On the basis of the preponderance of views and experience expressed to GAO, it believes that the guidelines can have a major role in ensuring compliance with the spirit and intent of federal EEO laws. While revisions to the guidelines' technical provisions could be postponed until after the new American Psychological Association (APA) standards are published, beginning the review now could prevent unnecessary delay between issuance of those standards and any revisions.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Janet L. Shikles Team: General Accounting Office: Human Resources Division Phone: (202) 512-7119


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