NPAworldwide has been in business since 1956. During that time, there have been occasional new laws and regulations that have impacted recruitment, although the last 15-ish years have seemed fairly static in this area. All of a sudden, there are legal updates for recruiters occurring at a frequency that has many practitioners approaching them like Whac-A-Mole. If you’ve not been paying attention to the changing legal landscape, it’s time to start! This is equally true for employers as well as third-party recruitment firms.
Just off the top of my head, I am aware of new or pending legislation in the following areas:
- Cannabis testing
- Pay transparency / pay equity
- Website accessibility
- Video interviewing
- Bias / discrimination
If you’re a small employer or a small recruitment firm, you may not have an attorney on retainer or even access to reasonably affordable information. I’ve discovered a source of vetted legal updates from a variety of sources, available as a free email subscription. The source is JD Supra, which is an online publishing platform for legal and other authors. I subscribe to their Hiring and Firing topic, which is delivered to my inbox on a weekly basis. It covers a wide range of topics that are pertinent to both employers and recruitment firms. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have no relationship with JD Supra.)
Some of their other topic areas include finance, taxes, insurance, civil rights, intellectual property, immigration and more. I have found this to be a great way to get quick updates on important legal issues. Small businesses may want to check with their local chambers of commerce, small business association, or trade association to see if there are any free legal resources available for members. For example, you may be able to get an hour or 2 of legal consultation per month as a benefit of membership. These legal updates for recruiters and employers are too important to ignore – the penalties for non-compliance can put your entire business at risk.