Hiring and HR Records Glossary · Workforce

Adverse action (employment): a decision not to hire, promote or retain a person based in whole or in part on a consumer report, which requires a pre-adverse action notice before it and an adverse action notice after it (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Alternative procedure (Form I-9): DHS's optional remote examination of I-9 documents by live video, available since August 1, 2023 to employers in good standing in E-Verify, with copies of the documents kept front and back (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Applicant tracking system (ATS): the system that records requisitions, postings, candidates, applications, interviews, offers and the hire hand-off to the HRIS (Recruiting, ATS & AI in Hiring).
Authorized representative (Form I-9): a person who completes Section 2 on the employer's behalf by examining documents in person, for whose actions the employer remains liable (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Automated employment decision tool (AEDT): New York City's term for software used to screen, score or rank candidates for hiring or promotion, usable only after a bias audit within one year, a public summary and notice 10 business days before use (Recruiting, ATS & AI in Hiring).
Bias audit: an independent analysis of an automated hiring tool's selection or scoring rates by sex, race and ethnicity, required annually by New York City's Local Law 144 (Recruiting, ATS & AI in Hiring).
Conditional offer: an offer of employment made before a background check, which fair chance laws require before any conviction history inquiry (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Consumer reporting agency (CRA), employment: a background screening provider whose report on a candidate or employee is a consumer report under the FCRA (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Continuous monitoring: recurring checks during employment for new criminal or driving records, each hit a new consumer report subject to the same authorization and adverse action rules (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Correction (HRIS): replacing a value that was wrong for its effective range, keeping the wrong value in history with when it was recorded, as distinct from a backdated change (The HRIS as Record of Truth).
Disposition reason: the recorded reason an application ended (hired, rejected, withdrawn, closed), the field an employer relies on when asked why a person wasn't hired (Recruiting, ATS & AI in Hiring).
E-Verify: the DHS and SSA system that confirms the employment eligibility of a new hire from the I-9, with a case due by the third business day after work for pay begins (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
EEO-1 Component 1: the annual EEOC report of workforce demographics by job category, sex and race or ethnicity, from private employers with 100 or more employees and certain federal contractors with 50 or more, proposed for rescission in July 2026 (Pay Transparency, Pay Equity & EEO-1).
Employment loss (WARN): a termination other than for cause, a voluntary departure or retirement, a layoff over 6 months, or an hours cut of more than 50% in each month of a 6-month period (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).
Fair chance law: a state or local law (ban-the-box) that delays conviction history inquiries until a conditional offer and requires an individualized assessment and a chance to respond before withdrawing it (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Final Nonconfirmation: the E-Verify result that work authorization couldn't be confirmed after the employee contacted DHS or SSA, the time ran out, or the employee chose not to take action (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Form I-9: the USCIS form, current edition 01/20/25, on which a new employee attests to work authorization by the first day and the employer examines documents within three business days (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Further Action Notice: the E-Verify notice an employer reviews in private with an employee whose case returned a mismatch, recording whether they will take action (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Future-dated change: an HRIS change recorded now with an effective range that starts later, which downstream systems must hear about when it is recorded and when it takes effect (The HRIS as Record of Truth).
Gender pay gap report: the EU Directive's periodic report of pay differences by sex, due from employers with 250 or more workers by June 7, 2027 and annually after (Pay Transparency, Pay Equity & EEO-1).
HRIS (human resources information system): the employer's record of who works there, in what job, at what pay and reporting to whom, as of each date, and the source of joiner, mover and leaver events (The HRIS as Record of Truth).
Impact ratio: a group's selection rate divided by the rate of the group with the highest rate; under four-fifths it is generally regarded as evidence of adverse impact (Recruiting, ATS & AI in Hiring).
Individualized assessment (employment): the employer's review of a conviction against the nature and gravity of the offense, the time passed and the job's duties before withdrawing an offer under a fair chance law (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Investigative consumer report: a consumer report built from personal interviews about character, reputation, personal characteristics and mode of living, with its own disclosure within three days of the request (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Joiner, mover, leaver (HRIS): the hire, transfer and termination events an HRIS emits to payroll, benefits and identity, each with an effective date (The HRIS as Record of Truth).
Joint pay assessment: the EU Directive's review with workers' representatives when a category shows a gender pay gap of at least 5% that is neither justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria nor remedied within six months (Pay Transparency, Pay Equity & EEO-1).
Mass layoff (WARN): a reduction in force, not from a plant closing, with employment losses at a single site in 30 days for at least 33% and 50 full-time employees, or for 500 (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).
Mini-WARN law: a state plant closing and layoff notice law with lower thresholds or longer notice than federal WARN, such as California's, New York's and New Jersey's (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).
New hire report: the employer's report of a newly hired employee to the State Directory of New Hires within 20 days, used to match child support cases (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA): the ADEA's conditions for a knowing and voluntary release of age claims, including 21 days to consider (45 in a group program) and 7 days to revoke (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).
Pay data report (California): the annual report private employers with 100 or more payroll employees file with the Civil Rights Department by the second Wednesday of May, counting employees by job category, pay band, race or ethnicity and sex (Pay Transparency, Pay Equity & EEO-1).
Pay scale: California's term for the range required in a job posting, "a good faith estimate of the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay" (Pay Transparency, Pay Equity & EEO-1).
Personnel file access law: a state law giving employees, and often former employees, the right to inspect and copy their personnel records within a deadline (Employee Records, Privacy & Retention).
Plant closing (WARN): the shutdown of a single site, or of facilities or operating units within one, causing employment losses for 50 or more full-time employees in any 30-day period (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).
Position management: modeling the organization as seats that exist with or without an incumbent, each with a job code, org unit, FTE and budget (The HRIS as Record of Truth).
Pre-adverse action notice: the copy of the consumer report and the FCRA Summary of Rights an employer gives before acting on the report, so the person can dispute errors (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Requisition: an approved request to hire, with the job, position, pay range, openings and hiring team (Recruiting, ATS & AI in Hiring).
Rescind (HRIS): an event that cancels a hire or termination that never took effect, pointing at the event it reverses so each consumer can undo what it did (The HRIS as Record of Truth).
Retention schedule: the rules that set how long each record type is kept, from which event, with the latest applicable date winning (Employee Records, Privacy & Retention).
Reverification (Form I-9): confirming continued work authorization in Supplement B when a noncitizen's employment authorization expires; never required for U.S. citizens or noncitizen nationals (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Salary history ban: a law barring employers from asking applicants about prior pay (Pay Transparency, Pay Equity & EEO-1).
Separation: the record of a terminated employment, with its termination date, last day worked, reason and the fan-out of tasks it generates (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).
SIDES (State Information Data Exchange System): the system run with the Department of Labor through which employers, TPAs and PEOs answer state unemployment claim requests electronically (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).
Standalone disclosure: the FCRA's written notice that a consumer report may be obtained for employment, in a document that consists solely of the disclosure (Background Checks, Fair Chance & Drug Testing).
Tentative Nonconfirmation (mismatch): the E-Verify result that the I-9 information didn't match DHS or SSA records, during which the employer may take no adverse action (Onboarding: I-9, E-Verify & New Hire Reporting).
Truncated TIN: an SSN or other TIN with its first five digits replaced by Xs or asterisks, permitted on statements furnished after December 31, 2020 but not on returns filed with the IRS or SSA (Employee Records, Privacy & Retention).
Voluntary self-identification: an applicant's or employee's optional answers on race, ethnicity, sex, veteran and disability status, stored apart from hiring decisions (Recruiting, ATS & AI in Hiring).
WARN Act: the federal law requiring 60 days' written notice of a plant closing or mass layoff from employers with 100 or more full-time employees (Terminations, Offboarding & WARN).