11.1 Hiring, I-9, Background Checks & Discrimination

11.1 Hiring, I-9, Background Checks & Discrimination

Business & Finance Area E — Managing Human Resources is 6% of the 120-question B&F exam (about seven scored items). Official item 1 is hire: employment laws, discrimination, interviewing, required forms, and background checks. The 2026 B&F references that carry this cluster are the Contractors Manual 2025 (used beginning February 1, 2026) and Florida Statutes. A Class A or Class B qualifying agent who can recover a 14 SEER split and still asks a pregnant applicant who will watch her children, skips Form I-9, or runs a credit report with no Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) notices is not managing human resources. Under F.S. 489.1195, the primary qualifying agent is jointly and equally responsible for supervision of all operations and field work and, unless a financially responsible officer (FRO) is appointed, for financial matters — payroll, hiring cost, and the cost of a discrimination charge sit in that stack.

Why hiring is a qualifying-agent problem

HVAC shops hire helpers, installers, service technicians, sheet-metal mechanics, and office staff. Every one of those people is either a W-2 employee or a misclassified headache (the IRS control tests and Chapter 440 construction employment rules are in the staffing chapter). The hiring file is how you prove you did not discriminate, how you survive a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) I-9 inspection, and how you keep a company-van driver who is actually licensed. Florida is generally an at-will employment state: either party may end the relationship at any time, for any lawful reason or for no reason, unless a contract, statute, or public-policy exception says otherwise. At-will is not a license to ignore Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Florida Civil Rights Act, workers' compensation retaliation rules, or Form I-9. "We are a small shop" is not a defense once you cross the employee-count thresholds below. Class B's 25-ton / 500,000 Btu system limit does not shrink employment law; Class A boiler and centrifugal work does not expand it. Both classes sit for the same B&F paper.

Employment laws and discrimination

Federal and Florida statutes attach at different headcounts. Learn the thresholds; the exam loves them.

Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) is a narrow defense (for example, a genuine religious qualification at a religious employer). "Customers prefer a male tech in the attic" is not a BFOQ. Sexual harassment is sex discrimination: quid pro quo (a job benefit traded for sexual favors) and hostile environment (severe or pervasive unwelcome conduct). A crew-lead who conditions overtime on dates is a company problem the qualifying agent owns. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is part of Title VII; Florida separately lists pregnancy in 760.10. File an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR) charge on the statute of limitations the agency publishes — do not invent a day count on the exam if the stem does not give it.

Interviewing

Ask only what is job-related. Lawful HVAC questions: Can you perform the essential functions in the job description, with or without reasonable accommodation? Do you hold EPA Section 608 technician certification for the refrigerant work this job requires (federal; not a substitute for a CILB license)? Can you produce a valid driver's license if the posting includes a company van? Are you authorized to work in the United States? Are you available for the on-call rotation as posted? Unlawful or high-risk questions: How old are you? Are you pregnant? What church do you attend? Where were you born? Do you have kids? What medications do you take? Have you filed workers' compensation? Are you a U.S. citizen? (Work authorization is the I-9 question, asked after hire through the form, not a citizenship quiz in the lobby.)

Write the job description of essential functions before the interview. That description is later the ADA baseline and the evaluation baseline in section 11.3. Score every applicant on the same rubric. A "good old boy" interview in the truck that never hits the personnel file is how you lose the discrimination case you thought at-will would prevent.

Required new-hire forms

Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) requires every U.S. employer to verify identity and employment authorization for every employee. The employee completes Section 1 no later than the first day of employment, and only after the job has been accepted — do not use the I-9 to pre-screen applicants. The employer (or authorized representative) examines original documents from List A (one document proving both identity and work authorization, such as a U.S. passport) or a combination of List B (identity, such as a Florida driver's license) and List C (work authorization, such as an unrestricted Social Security card), and completes Section 2 within three business days of the first day of employment. If the job will last fewer than three days, complete Section 2 on day one. You may not specify which documents the employee must present from the Lists; telling a Hispanic applicant to bring a green card and a White applicant that a license and Social Security card are "fine" is document abuse. Never backdate an I-9. Retain it three years after the date of hire or one year after the date of termination, whichever is later. Reverification of expiring work authorization uses the I-9 Supplement, not a new citizenship interview.

Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate. Collect it before the first payroll so federal income-tax withholding is correct. Florida has no state personal income tax, so there is no Florida W-4. Circular E / Publication 15 (in the Contractors Manual 2025) is the payroll-deposit companion; this section is the hiring file, not the Form 941 math.

Florida new-hire report (F.S. 409.2576). Report each new or rehired employee to the Florida New Hire Reporting Center (Department of Revenue) within 20 days of the hire date. Electronic filers may use two monthly transmissions not less than 12 and not more than 16 days apart. The report includes name, address, date of hire, Social Security number, and the employer's federal employer identification number. Independent contractors paid more than $600 in a calendar year are also reportable, within 20 days of the earlier of first payment or the contract date. This is a child-support and fraud tool, not optional "when we get around to payroll."

E-Verify (F.S. 448.095). Beginning July 1, 2023, a private employer with 25 or more employees must use the federal E-Verify system to verify each new employee's eligibility within three business days after the first day the employee works for pay. Public agencies, and contractors and subcontractors on public work, must use it regardless of size. E-Verify is in addition to the I-9. If the system is unavailable for three business days, document the outage (the statute's screenshot method) and still complete the I-9. Certify compliance on the first Florida reemployment tax return of the calendar year. Do not use E-Verify to pre-screen applicants, and do not treat a shop under 25 employees as exempt from Form I-9.

Post the federal and Florida minimum-wage, workers' compensation ("broken arm"), OSHA, and — if you have 15 or more employees — EEO posters. Youth in construction: many HVAC tasks, especially roofing-adjacent work and other hazardous occupations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, are 18 and older. Do not put a 16-year-old on a commercial rooftop.

Background checks and the FCRA

Florida has no statewide "ban-the-box" law for private employers. You may ask about criminal history on an application, but the decision must be job-related and consistent. A recent theft conviction is more relevant to a residential tech who enters occupied dwellings than a 15-year-old unrelated misdemeanor. Driving records (motor vehicle reports) belong on anyone who will drive a company van.

If you use a third-party consumer reporting agency for a criminal, credit, or driving report, the federal FCRA applies:

1. A clear, standalone disclosure that a consumer report may be obtained, and written authorization, before you pull the report.
2. Pre-adverse-action: if you may reject the person based on the report, provide a copy of the report and the Summary of Rights, and a reasonable time to dispute.
3. An adverse-action notice if you then reject.

A "we just asked our buddy at the sheriff's office" shortcut still has to be lawful. Credit reports are a weak tool for most HVAC field jobs and a strong way to walk into an FCRA claim. Drug tests are not FCRA consumer reports in the usual background-check sense; they have their own chain of custody rules in section 11.2.

Pay at hire: Florida minimum wage and FLSA overtime

Florida's constitutional minimum wage is $14.00 per hour for non-tipped employees from September 30, 2025 through September 29, 2026, and $15.00 per hour beginning September 30, 2026 (tipped cash wages $10.98, then $11.98, with a $3.02 tip credit). The federal FLSA floor remains $7.25; you pay the higher Florida rate. A "helper in training" still cannot be paid $12 in March 2026.

Field HVAC technicians who work with tools are almost always non-exempt. Paying a salary does not by itself create an overtime exemption; the person must also meet a duties test (executive, administrative, or professional) and the current U.S. Department of Labor salary-level test. Confirm that dollar figure from DOL — do not memorize a vacated 2024 number on this exam. Overtime is one and one-half times the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek. Worked example: a tech at $22.00 per hour who works 48 hours earns 40 × $22.00 = $880 straight time plus 8 × $22.00 × 1.5 = $264 overtime, total $1,144. Private-sector "comp time instead of overtime" is not a substitute for cash overtime under the FLSA.

Florida HVAC scenario

Panhandle Comfort, a certified Class B shop (25 tons / 500,000 Btu in any one system), needs a residential installer. The owner interviews three people in the parking lot. He asks the female applicant whether she has small children and "who will watch them when we run overtime." He tells the 58-year-old applicant the company is "looking for energy." He hires a 24-year-old, starts him Monday, never completes an I-9, never files the 20-day new-hire report, and has a supply-house friend run a credit report because "installers steal copper." The new hire is paid $13.50 because "he is learning." In March 2026 that wage is below Florida's $14.00 minimum. The credit pull without FCRA disclosure is a separate federal claim. The I-9 was due: Section 1 on Monday, Section 2 by Thursday (three business days). The child-care and age comments are textbook sex and age evidence under Title VII, the ADEA, and F.S. 760.10. Class B scope does not shrink any of those statutes. The qualifying agent's defense is a written job description, a structured interview, a complete I-9, a W-4, a 20-day new-hire report, E-Verify if the shop has 25 employees, and a wage that meets Florida's current minimum plus FLSA overtime when the week exceeds 40 hours.