How Much Do You Know About Hiring?

In the U.S., there are a significant number of laws pertaining to the hiring of employees, even by micro-businesses. Some laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), generally only apply to businesses with 15 or more employees, while others, like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), apply to any size business.

Our Small Business Information Guide, Darrell Zahorsky, takes a look at some of these issues in Background Check Precautions For Pre-Employment Screening.

The issues don't stop at the screening process -- there are legal issues involved in the interview process, as well. Jack Yoest has compiled a list of illegal interview questions, as well as some legal alternative wording that may help you get the answers you're looking for.

Example:

Illegal: What's your marital status? Who do you live with? Do you plan to have a family? How many kids do you have? Do you have childcare arrangements?

Legal: Travel is an important part of the job, would you be willing to travel as needed?

So before you get ready to hire your first employees, you'll want to either:

1. hire or consult with a human resources professional and/or an attorney specializing in employment law ,
2. consider outsourcing part of the process, such as pre-employment screening, and/or
3. give yourself a crash course in the law (riskier, but cheaper)

But whatever you do, don't just wing it or blow it off thinking it's a non-issue. If you're prepared, it's not a big deal, but if you ignore it, the consequences can be disastrous.