Hiring Requirements and Qualifications of School Food Authority Directors Changed in Some Districts After Implementation of US Department of Agriculture Professional Standards.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, the US Department of Agriculture set minimum education and training requirements (ie, professional standards) to ensure that school nutrition professionals have the knowledge and experience to operate school meal programs. No study to date has examined whether hiring requirements and qualifications of school food authority (SFA) directors have changed since 2015. OBJECTIVE: To assess changes in hiring requirements and qualifications of SFA directors since the US Department of Agriculture professional standards were established, overall and by district size. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative district-level data from the 2012 and 2016 cycles of the School Health Policies and Practices Study. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: In 2012, 660 sampled districts completed the School Health Policies and Practices Study Nutrition Services questionnaire. In 2016, 599 sampled districts completed the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hiring requirements for newly hired SFA directors and reported qualifications of SFA directors. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Differences in prevalence estimates from 2012 to 2016 for all districts and by district size were assessed with χ2 tests. RESULTS: Significant increases were found for 3 hiring requirements: degree in nutrition or related field, registered dietitian credential, and food safety certification. Significant changes in 4 of the 5 reported qualifications were found including an increase in the percentage of district directors with a degree in nutrition or a related field and decreases in the percentage of directors with a School Nutrition Specialist credential from the School Nutrition Association, School Nutrition Association certifications, and certified dietary managers. Changes were found in small and medium districts, but not large districts. CONCLUSIONS: District hiring requirements and SFA director qualifications have changed since the implementation of the US Department of Agriculture professional standards, including some differences by district size. Future research could identify challenges facing districts in hiring directors who have a degree in nutrition or related fields or who have specialized nutrition credentials or certificates (eg, registered dietitians).

Comparing demographics of signatories to public letters on diversity in the mathematical sciences.

In its December 2019 edition, the Notices of the American Mathematical Society published an essay critical of the use of diversity statements in academic hiring. The publication of this essay prompted many responses, including three public letters circulated within the mathematical sciences community. Each letter was signed by hundreds of people and was published online, also by the American Mathematical Society. We report on a study of the signatories' demographics, which we infer using a crowdsourcing approach. Letter A highlights diversity and social justice. The pool of signatories contains relatively more individuals inferred to be women and/or members of underrepresented ethnic groups. Moreover, this pool is diverse with respect to the levels of professional security and types of academic institutions represented. Letter B does not comment on diversity, but rather, asks for discussion and debate. This letter was signed by a strong majority of individuals inferred to be white men in professionally secure positions at highly research intensive universities. Letter C speaks out specifically against diversity statements, calling them "a mistake," and claiming that their usage during early stages of faculty hiring "diminishes mathematical achievement." Individuals who signed both Letters B and C, that is, signatories who both privilege debate and oppose diversity statements, are overwhelmingly inferred to be tenured white men at highly research intensive universities. Our empirical results are consistent with theories of power drawn from the social sciences.

Workplace discrimination for persons with hearing loss: Before and after the 2008 ADA Amendments Act.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with hearing loss experience unique barriers to employment frequently documented in the areas of communication and education. The purpose of this article is to contribute to extend this inquiry to the uniqueness of workplace discrimination involving persons with hearing loss. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated differences in allegations of workplace discrimination filed by persons with hearing loss ("Hearing") compared to those filed by persons with other physical or neurological disabilities (General Disability, or "GENDIS") before and after the enactment of the 2008 Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (2008 Amendments). METHODS: Using secondary data collected from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Integrated Mission System, we employ simple measures of proportion and odds ratios to describe differences between allegations derived from GENDIS and Hearing loss populations. These are population statistics, and not samples, of all allegations of discrimination reported to the EEOC through 2016. The comparisons involve Characteristics of the Charging Parties, Issues or discriminatory behaviors alleged, and closure statuses or Merit Rate of the EEOC's investigations - both before and after the 2008 Amendments. RESULTS: Following the 2008 Amendments, Charging Parties changed dramatically on age and gender status. Reasonable Accommodation, Hiring, Harassment, and employment Terms and Conditions showed unique features between groups and/or time periods. The "veracity" (confirmed truthfulness or merit) of the EEOC allegation (or Merit) rate also changed following the Amendments: higher for GENDIS; lower for Hearing. CONCLUSIONS: Possible rationale for these findings are offered, and new research questions are raised. Finally, implications for the cross-disability movement are presented.

Hiring, training, and supporting Peer Research Associates: Operationalizing community-based research principles within epidemiological studies by, with, and for women living with HIV.

BACKGROUND: A community-based research (CBR) approach is critical to redressing the exclusion of women-particularly, traditionally marginalized women including those who use substances-from HIV research participation and benefit. However, few studies have articulated their process of involving and engaging peers, particularly within large-scale cohort studies of women living with HIV where gender, cultural and linguistic diversity, HIV stigma, substance use experience, and power inequities must be navigated. METHODS: Through our work on the Canadian HIV Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS), Canada's largest community-collaborative longitudinal cohort of women living with HIV (n = 1422), we developed a comprehensive, regionally tailored approach for hiring, training, and supporting women living with HIV as Peer Research Associates (PRAs). To reflect the diversity of women with HIV in Canada, we initially hired 37 PRAs from British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, prioritizing women historically under-represented in research, including women who use or have used illicit drugs, and women living with HIV of other social identities including Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQ2S, and sex work communities, noting important points of intersection between these groups. RESULTS: Building on PRAs' lived experience, research capacity was supported through a comprehensive, multi-phase, and evidence-based experiential training curriculum, with mentorship and support opportunities provided at various stages of the study. Challenges included the following: being responsive to PRAs' diversity; ensuring PRAs' health, well-being, safety, and confidentiality; supporting PRAs to navigate shifting roles in their community; and ensuring sufficient time and resources for the translation of materials between English and French. Opportunities included the following: mutual capacity building of PRAs and researchers; community-informed approaches to study the processes and challenges; enhanced recruitment of harder-to-reach populations; and stronger community partnerships facilitating advocacy and action on findings. CONCLUSIONS: Community-collaborative studies are key to increasing the relevance and impact potential of research. For women living with HIV to participate in and benefit from HIV research, studies must foster inclusive, flexible, safe, and reciprocal approaches to PRA engagement, employment, and training tailored to regional contexts and women's lives. Recommendations for best practice are offered.

Historical perspective on physical employment standards.

BACKGROUND: When one thinks of jobs with physical employment standards, the first thoughts typically center around firefighting, law enforcement, and military jobs. However, there are 100s of arduous jobs that exist in the public and private sectors that range from moderately demanding to strenuous. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 28% of the workforce in the United States performs physically demanding jobs that involve construction, machinery installation and repair, public safety, and other professions. OBJECTIVE: This paper provides a historical perspective of physical employment standards for hiring workers into these arduous jobs, how we arrived at our current knowledge base, and the challenges faced today when determining and implementing physical employment standards. METHOD: This narrative review draws on evidence from 62 published sources. RESULTS: This paper focuses on the need for a multidisciplinary approach to identifying job requirements, the professions (e.g., medical, psychology, physiology) that underpin the methodologies, and the knowledge used by current researchers. Descriptions of test and cut score development, legal issues, and challenges for the future also are highlighted.

Review of methods to identify the critical job-tasks undertaken by the emergency services.

BACKGROUND: The roles of the emergency services are challenging and often physically demanding. Readiness to meet these challenges and demands is a fundamental requirement for staff to deliver their roles safely and effectively. Furthermore, employers are required by law to demonstrate every reasonable effort to protect their staff from undue risk of work-related injury. Implementing Physical Employment Standards (PES) enables employers to assign staff to roles for which they are physically-suited whilst contributing to such duty-of-care. However, for PES to be successful and legally-defendable, standards must reflect the demands of those job-tasks which are truly critical to the readiness of these services. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a standardised approach to identifying critical job-tasks exists in the development of PES for the emergency services. METHODS: Studies which conducted analysis of job-tasks to develop PES within the emergency services were reviewed. RESULTS: Forty-two reported studies (i.e. records) met the inclusion criteria. Methods to determine job-tasks varied but were typically criteria-based incorporating one, or all, of 9 reported techniques. Methods were subjective and based upon reference to past or present job-task performance. CONCLUSION: Correctly determining critical job-tasks is essential for effective, legally-defendable PES. A standardised method to define job-tasks remains to be established.

Policy Guidelines for Effective Inclusion and Reintegration of People with Chronic Diseases in the Workplace: National and European Perspectives.

The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases among the European working age population, as well as the implications for the individual and societal level, underline the need for policy guidelines targeting the effective inclusion of persons with chronic diseases in the workplace. The aim of the present paper was to explore the perspectives of European and National-level stakeholders on existing strategies for work re-integration of persons with chronic diseases, and to provide policy guidelines. A highly-structured interview protocol was distributed to 58 National level stakeholders (policy makers, professionals and employers) from seven European countries. Additionally, 20 European organizations concerned with health-related issues and employment completed an online survey. The findings reveal that employment-related challenges remain largely unaddressed. Both national and European stakeholders considered the existing legislative frameworks inadequate and appraised the co-ordination for the implementation of employment re-integration policies as ineffective. Policies targeting at work re-integration of persons with chronic diseases at European and national level should focus on consistent cooperation among all key stakeholders, awareness raising to staff and management, dissemination of effective strategies, developing research and evaluation standards and establishing monitoring systems on inclusive labour markets.

Recruitment of Dual-Career Academic Medicine Couples.

Today it is not uncommon to discover that a candidate for a faculty position has a partner or spouse who is also an academician, adding complexity to the recruitment process. Here, the authors address two practical obstacles to the recruitment of faculty who have an academic partner: dual recruitment and conflict of interest. The authors have found that tandem recruitment works best when suitable positions for both spouses are first identified so that recruitment can proceed synchronously. This approach decreases misperceptions of favoritism toward either's candidacy. Managing conflict of interest, generated by the appointment of one spouse in a supervisory position over the other, requires a proactive, transparent, well-designed plan. After canvassing human resource policies and conducting interviews with national academic leaders, the authors have developed an administrative structure that places "key" decisions (hiring and retention; promotion and tenure; salary, bonuses, and benefits; performance evaluations; and disciplinary matters) regarding the supervised spouse in the jurisdiction of an alternative administrator or committee. The authors also offer suggestions both for mitigating misperceptions of bias in day-to-day decisions and for the support and mentoring of the supervised partner or spouse.

Should Employers Be Permitted not to Hire Smokers? A Review of US Legal Provisions.

BACKGROUND: Increasingly, healthcare and non-healthcare employers prohibit or penalize the use of tobacco products among current and new employees in the United States. Despite this trend, and for a range of different reasons, around half of states currently legally protect employees from being denied positions, or having employment contracts terminated, due to tobacco use. METHODS: We undertook a conceptual analysis of legal provisions in all 50 states. RESULTS: We found ethically relevant variations in terms of how tobacco is defined, which employee populations are protected, and to what extent they are protected. Furthermore, the underlying ethical rationales for smoker protection differ, and can be grouped into two main categories: prevention of discrimination and protection of privacy. CONCLUSION: We critically discuss these rationales and the role of their advocates and argue that enabling equality of opportunity is a more adequate overarching concept for preventing employers from disadvantaging smokers.

[Current SHI physician legislation: succession rules for surgical seats : Surgical vacancies can be filled with orthopedic/trauma surgery specialists only within narrow limits]. / Aktuelles Vertragsarztrecht: Nachfolge bei Chirurgensitzen : Nachbesetzung einer chirurgischen Zulassung durch Fachärzte für Orthopädie/Unfallchirurgie nur in engen Grenzen.

It is a physician's certified continuing medical education category-rather than their actual medical activity, in this case in the field of trauma surgery-that is decisive in filling statutory health insurance (SHI) practice vacancies. This evaluation arising from §16 of the requirement planning guideline applies accordingly when filling physician vacancies. Thus physician vacancies or statutory health insurance (SHI) practice places can only be filled by a physician in the same physician group in line with requirement planning. Scope for argumentation initially remains in the context of filling surgical SHI physician vacancies where the ceding physician is certified as an accident insurance consultant.

Dialectical thinking and fairness-based perspectives of affirmative action.

Affirmative action (AA) policies are among the most effective means for enhancing diversity and equality in the workplace, yet are also often viewed with scorn by the wider public. Fairness-based explanations for this scorn suggest AA policies provide preferential treatment to minorities, violating procedural fairness principles of consistent treatment. In other words, to promote equality in the workplace, effective AA policies promote inequality when selecting employees, and the broader public perceives this to be procedurally unfair. Given this inconsistency underlies negative reactions to AA policies, we argue that better preparing individuals to deal with inconsistencies can mitigate negative reactions to AA policies. Integrating theories from the fairness and cognitive styles literature, we demonstrate across 4 studies how dialectical thinking-a cognitive style associated with accepting inconsistencies in one's environment-increases support for AA policies via procedural fairness perceptions. Specifically, we found support for our propositions across a variety of AA policy types (i.e., strong and weak preference policies) and when conceptualizing dialectical thinking either as an individual difference or as a state that can be primed-including being primed by the framing of the AA policy itself. We discuss theoretical contributions and insights for policy-making at government and organizational levels. (PsycINFO Database Record

IJEPA: Gray Area for Health Policy and International Nurse Migration.

Indonesia is recognized as a nurse exporting country, with policies that encourage nursing professionals to emigrate abroad. This includes the country's adoption of international principles attempting to protect Indonesian nurses that emigrate as well as the country's own participation in a bilateral trade and investment agreement, known as the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement that facilitates Indonesian nurse migration to Japan. Despite the potential trade and employment benefits from sending nurses abroad under the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, Indonesia itself is suffering from a crisis in nursing capacity and ensuring adequate healthcare access for its own populations. This represents a distinct challenge for Indonesia in appropriately balancing domestic health workforce needs, employment, and training opportunities for Indonesian nurses, and the need to acknowledge the rights of nurses to freely migrate abroad. Hence, this article reviews the complex operational and ethical issues associated with Indonesian health worker migration under the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. It also introduces a policy proposal to improve performance of the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and better align it with international principles focused on equitable health worker migration.