Oklahoma technical recruiting and hiring rules
Oklahoma's cleared market is Oklahoma City, where the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base is the largest single-site employer in the state, the FAA's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center occupies 1,100 acres, and Boeing, Pratt and Whitney and the aerospace suppliers around Tinker sustain the Air Force's bomber, tanker and airborne early warning fleets.
Fort Sill's Fires Center of Excellence and Vance Air Force Base sit within reach. Requisitions run from non-cleared aircraft sustainment engineering to Secret and Top Secret on the depot and program work.
Oklahoma regulates little at the posting stage but voids most non-competes by statute. The rules below are current at the time of writing, each with its source.
Hiring rules in Oklahoma that matter to employers
Summaries are general information current at the time of writing and are no substitute for counsel.
- Pay transparency in job postings
- Oklahoma does not require employers to disclose salary ranges or compensation in job postings or during the hiring process, and it has no dedicated pay transparency statute. State law does prohibit wage discrimination based on sex for jobs requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility.
- Salary history
- Oklahoma law does not prohibit employers from asking about or considering an applicant's salary history.
- Fair-chance hiring
- Executive Order 2016-03, signed on February 24, 2016, directs all state agencies to remove questions about convictions and criminal history from job applications, except where a felony conviction would automatically disqualify an applicant or for sensitive positions; it does not prevent background checks or interview questions and does not apply to private employers. The National Employment Law Project lists Oklahoma as having adopted a statewide policy in 2016.
- Non-compete agreements
- Oklahoma Statutes Title 15, Section 219A, provides that a former employee shall be permitted to engage in the same business as the former employer as long as the former employee does not directly solicit the sale of goods or services from the former employer's established customers, and that any provision in conflict is void. The statute permits non-competes only in connection with the sale of a business's goodwill or the dissolution of a partnership, and Oklahoma courts require strict compliance with the section to enforce a non-solicitation provision.
- At-will employment
- Oklahoma courts recognize the at-will doctrine: the Oklahoma Supreme Court has stated that an employer can discharge an employee for good cause, no cause, or even a morally wrong cause without liability, subject to the public policy exception recognized in Burk versus K-Mart and its successors, which applies where an at-will employee is discharged for violating a clear public policy found in Oklahoma law and no adequate statutory remedy exists. The doctrine rests on case law rather than a statute.
- Drug testing and E-Verify
- Under the Oklahoma Standards for Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Act, Title 40, Sections 551 to 562, an employer that requires an applicant or employee to undergo drug or alcohol testing must first adopt a written policy, give at least ten days' notice of a new or changed policy, and provide a copy to each applicant on acceptance of employment; permitted testing includes applicant, reasonable suspicion, post-accident, random and periodic testing. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 requires public employers and their contractors to use E-Verify for new hires.
Metro markets in Oklahoma
Oklahoma's metro page covers Oklahoma City, Tinker Air Force Base and the surrounding installations.
Industries hiring in Oklahoma
Specialties in demand in Oklahoma
Questions about hiring in Oklahoma
Can an Oklahoma employer stop a departing engineer from joining a competitor?
Under 15 O.S. Section 219A a former employee may engage in the same business as the former employer; the employer may only bar direct solicitation of its established customers, and the courts require strict compliance with the statute. Confidentiality agreements and the security rules of a cleared program are the tools employers rely on instead.
What must an Oklahoma employer do before drug testing a new hire?
Adopt a written policy under the Standards for Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Act, give at least ten days' notice of a new or changed policy to employees, and provide a copy of the policy to each applicant on acceptance of employment. Contract workers placed through Recruiters Workforce are tested under the employer of record's policy where the program requires it.