119-hr4050

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4050 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4050

To establish a voluntary compliance assistance initiative at the Equal 
 Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the usage of employment 
 tests and selection procedures by employers.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 June 17, 2025

 Ms. Stefanik introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To establish a voluntary compliance assistance initiative at the Equal 
 Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the usage of employment 
 tests and selection procedures by employers.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Advancing Skills-Based Hiring Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

 It is the purpose of this Act--

    (1) to empower employers to adopt a skills-based approach 
 to hiring through a voluntary compliance assistance program 
 regarding the appropriate use of employment tests and selection 
 procedures, and

    (2) to enable employers to proactively submit validation 
 information to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 
 review to ensure use of such tests and procedures is job-
 related for the position in question and consistent with 
 business necessity within the meaning of 

section 703

    (k)

    (1)
        (A)
            (i) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 
 2000e-2

    (k)

    (1)
        (A)
            (i) ).

SEC. 3. REVIEW BY EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION OF 
 INFORMATION VOLUNTARILY SUBMITTED BY EMPLOYERS.

    (a) Voluntary Submission and Review of Employer Information.--The 
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (in this Act referred to as the 
``Commission'') shall--

    (1) establish a process for employers--
        (A) to voluntarily submit validity evidence to the 
 Commission on the use, or prospective use, of 
 competency-based assessments or other professionally 
 developed selection procedures that are used to make 
 employment decisions, and
        (B) to obtain a determination by the Commission as 
 to whether such use is job-related for the position in 
 question and consistent with business necessity within 
 the meaning of 

section 703

    (k)

    (1)
        (A)
            (i) of the Civil 
 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-2

    (k)

    (1)
        (A)
            (i) ),

    (2) as part of such process, set forth the validity 
 evidence that participating employers should submit, which may 
 include--
        (A) a criterion-related validity study,
        (B) a content validity study,
            (C) a construct validity study, or
            (D) a transportability study that includes the 
 validity evidence from a study,
 conducted by another entity, along with evidence from the 
 employer that shows job similarity, and

    (3) allow employers to submit validity evidence for review 
 regardless of the existence of an adverse impact from the use 
 of the assessment or selection procedure on protected groups, 
 but require such submitted evidence to include any information 
 available on whether the use has resulted in adverse impact.

    (b) Review of Submitted Employer Information.--Subject to the 
payment required by subsection
            (d) , the Commission shall review the 
information submitted under subsection

    (a) and--

    (1) determine that the use of the assessment or selection 
 procedure identified by the employer is job-related and 
 consistent with business necessity, or

    (2) provide technical assistance to such employer that 
 includes, at a minimum--
        (A) an explanation of why the Commission cannot 
 make such a determination, and
        (B) steps the employer could take, or changes the 
 employer could implement, that will enable the 
 Commission to make the determination in subsection

    (b)

    (1) .
            (c) Safe Harbor.--The determination from the Commission under 
subsection

    (b)

    (1) that the employer's use of an assessment is job-
related and consistent with business may be used by the employer to 
satisfy its burden of proof under 

section 703

    (k)

    (1)
        (A)
            (i) of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-2

    (k)

    (1)
        (A)
            (i) ).
            (d) Fee Payable for Review.--To obtain review under subsection

    (b) , 
an employer with more than 100 employees shall pay to the Commission a 
reasonable fee determined by the Commission to offset the cost incurred 
by the Commission to provide such review.

    (e) Limitation.--Any information submitted by the employer under 
subsection

    (a) and any technical assistance provided by the Commission 
under subsection

    (b)

    (2) regarding the information submitted by the 
employer related thereto shall--

    (1) not be used against such employer as a basis for a 
 future enforcement action, and

    (2) shall be inadmissible in a Federal or State court 
 proceeding without the consent of such employer.

SEC. 4. EDUCATION AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

 The Commission shall provide education and technical assistance on 
the use of employment tests or other selection procedures, including 
education and technical assistance on the methods of validation of an 
employment test or selection procedure and on the opportunity to 
voluntarily submit validity evidence to the Commission to seek a 
determination that use of an employment test or selection procedure is 
job-related and consistent with business necessity.

SEC. 5. DEFINITION.

 For purposes of this Act, the term ``competency-based assessment'' 
means an assessment or selection procedure that purports to measure the 
knowledge, skills, abilities, or personal or behavior characteristics 
that are necessary for, or shown to predict, successful job 
performance.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

 This Act shall take effect 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
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