It's the perfect storm for a hiring discrimination legal action: slashed recruiting budgets and managers who haven't been trained in the validity of hiring.

Unfortunately, companies often devote too little time to making sure their recruiting practices are compliant, employers and entities such as employment agencies and make it illegal to recruit and hire new employees in ways that discriminate based on race, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.

The law also prohibits employers from using non job related neutral tests or selection procedures that disproportionately exclude certain groups.

How can you protect your company from hiring discrimination? Consider these tips:

• Standardise hiring procedures for all operations.
• Identify barriers to hiring.
• Recruiters may be over relying on one particular hiring tool.
• Recruit from a broad talent pool to eliminate disparities.
• Provide hiring training to all managers, both generic and job specific.

Race Equality Duty