Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations

55

Y

After you have read this chapter, you should be able to:

Understand the federal laws related to equal employment

opportunity and their implications for strategic human resources

management

Understand the difference between equal employment opportunity

and affi rmative action

Understand the religious exemption from Title VII protections

provided to some nonprofi t organizations

Understand the differences between disparate treatment and

disparate impact theories of employment discrimination

Understand the constitutional protections provided to public

employees

Understand the concept of employment at will

T

he legal environment has a significant influence on public and
nonprofi t human resources management (HRM). All organizations —
public, nonprofi t, and private for-profi t — must comply with equal employ-
ment opportunity laws. Equal employment opportunity has implications
for all aspects of strategic human resources management (SHRM): human
resources (HR) planning, recruitment and selection, training and career

• • • • • •

CHAPTER THREE

THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT