New definition of ‘applicant’ eases employer recordkeeping requirements
Back in 1979, the federal Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures required organizations to hang on to all job applications. The data was supposed to help determine whether equal employment opportunity rules were being followed. But with the advent of online job boards and e-mailed résumés, employers found themselves drowning in applications. To ease the recordkeeping burden, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a relaxed definition of the term “applicant” that applies only to electronic submissions. Employers no longer have to save every random employment inquiry that lands in their e-mail inboxes. As the new rule states, “In order for an individual to be an applicant in the context of the Internet and related electronic data processing technologies, the following must have occurred: the employer has acted to fill a particular position; the individual has followed the employer’s standard procedures for submitting applications; and the individual has indicated an interest in the particular position.” Electronic submissions that fail to meet any of these criteria may be discarded.
