What can I consider when hiring?

If you own a business in Arizona, you know how difficult it can be to make decisions about hiring, paying and terminating your employees. Anti-discrimination laws determine what factors you may or may not consider when making these decisions.

Failing to adhere to relevant employment law could cause severe legal consequences.

Arizona Civil Rights Act

You may find it challenging to make a decision about your future team without understanding which considerations you may take into account and which you cannot.

As AZLawHelp.org explains, the 1964 Arizona Civil Rights Act protects potential employees from discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion or national origin. This means that you as an employer may not consider these things when making a hiring decision. These are also considerations you may not take into account during termination, wage decisions or anything related to employment such as what tasks you assign or which department to put someone in.

This act applies to employers with more than 15 employees, but even smaller businesses would do well to avoid discrimination based on these factors as other laws may apply.

Considerations

It can be problematic to not consider an applicant’s gender or religion when making a hiring decision, particularly for certain roles where you feel you have a valid reason to want a woman in the position, for example.

Arizona does not prohibit employers from asking for this information from their employees, but keep in mind that doing so could potentially open up inquiries as to why you collected these answers.

Many organizations voluntarily adopt their own hiring practices to help avoid discrimination in the workplace. For example, some organizations may put together a hiring panel made up of both men and women, a minority, or some other combination.

These and other helpful tools can make the process less intimidating, but create such protocols carefully to make sure you are abiding by all relevant laws.