While we want to assist students as much as possible as they move toward post-graduation goals, there are legal and ethical considerations for faculty and staff members when referring students to employment opportunities and providing recommendations on their behalf. The following guidelines and tips are provided by Lisa Severy, director of Career Services.
Employment discrimination laws and referrals
Students look to faculty and staff members for advising, networking, referrals, references and potential job sources. Within the referral and job source category, employment discrimination laws must be followed in order to provide career opportunities and resource assistance in a fair and equitable manner. Faculty and staff members who choose to refer students to employment opportunities may fall into this category.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws recognize the rights of all persons to apply and be evaluated for job opportunities without regard to their race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, mental or physical disability and veterans’ status. Any individual or organization that refers someone for employment, whether they receive compensation or not, must follow these laws.
Referral guidelines
To protect yourself from alleged violations of employment discrimination laws, consider the following guidelines:
- The referral process must be the same for everyone.
- All students must have equal access (i.e., avoid sending job postings to only a select group of students).
- Students must be referred without bias.
- Referrals must be based upon job-related criteria.
In other words, you must consider whether a referral practice may be viewed as having disparate impact by excluding students from consideration based on anything other than the specific qualifications for that particular job; this may include sending a job or internship to only a particular set of students.
Equal opportunity and access
Faculty and staff can assist students by serving as a reference and referral but not as an applicant screener for employers.
Sending a job listing to a targeted group of students (by major, for example) means you are screening specific candidates for a particular job listing and acting as an agent on behalf of that employer. This also means you take on the legal liability that comes with being an applicant screener.
It is the responsibility of the university and everyone working within the university setting to maintain an open and fair process for offering employment opportunities, maintain a fair and equitable recruitment process and support informed responsible decision-making by candidates.
Faculty and staff members who refer students to employers or graduate programs should make sure all students who have declared an interest in seeking opportunities have access to all opportunities.
This means emailing a job posting to students by major, class level, student group or other criteria does not meet the requirement for open and fair process.
University referral process
To ensure you are promoting fair and equal opportunities for all students, follow these steps:
- Before sharing a posting, connect the employer with Career Services and Handshake, CU Boulder’s online career network for students and alumni. Employers can post directly to the Handshake system or work with the Employer Relations team to develop a recruiting strategy that fits their needs for recruiting CU students.
- Once the position is posted on Handshake, staff and faculty can send a targeted email to specific majors or class levels, with the specific job posting and/or to inform them of the posting on Handshake.
Letters of recommendation and FERPA
Please also remember the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects all of the information you have about a student. Volunteering information about students (positive or negative) with an employer is a violation of FERPA. If you are asked to serve as a reference or write a recommendation letter, the student is giving you permission to discuss certain aspects of his or her educational record. However, the sharing of that information must be at the request of the student and not another party.
As a rule, as long as an action comes from the student (sending an application, asking you to serve as a reference, etc.) rather than from you or from an employer, you are protected. Learn more and get tips on writing letters of recommendation.
If you have any questions regarding these topics, please contact the Office of University Counsel or Career Services.
