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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3135 ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE providing for equal opportunity employment for employees of the City of Bremerton and adopting an Affirmative Action Program for the City of Bremerton~ THE CITY OF BREMERTON DOES ORDAIN: SECTION 1: That th~ City of Bremerton hereby adopts and incorporates by reference the attached affirmative action program to apply to all hiring and employment practices pe,rtaining to City of Bremerton employees. APPROVED by the City Council on the first reading this ~/~ay of May, 1974. PASSED by the City Council of the City of Bremerton, signed by the Mayor and attested by the City Clerk in authentication of such passage this ~/~day of May, 1974. ATTEST: G. C. YEAD~, SR., City Clerk - 1 - POLICY It shall be the policy of the City of Bremerton to provide equal employmen~opportunity'~ for all persons from all areas of the commun~ regardles~ of race, sex, creed, national origin, age, mental or physical handicap. All decisions as to hiring, continuous employment and all terms and conditions of employment with the City of Bremerton shall be made according to an individual's ability to perform the duties of the position that person is being hired for or currently holds. Such passive prohibition of discriminatory practices is not enough. Positive, aggressive measures must be taken to effect changes that will provide opportunities for meaningful employment of those persons or groups who have been victims of discri~ ination. This Affirmative Action Plan sets up methods and procedures enabling this policy to be met. IMPLEMENTATION RESPONSIBILITY A. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION OFFICER The Mayor shall select a City-wide Affirmative Action Officer to serve a one year term, within 30 days of the pla~s adoption. The Affirmative Action Officer will coordinate the Affirmative Action Plan throughout the city. This person will also develop, implement, and maintain a system which monitors the effectiveness of the plan and shall seek training from all sources. Additional duties Shall be aiding management in arriving at solutions to equal employment opportunity problems, investigating potential discriminatory practices, preparing reports of City progress in attaining stated goals, informing management of new deve- lopment in the equal employment opportunity area and updating the Affirmative Action Plan as necess- ary. The Affirmative Action Officer is directly responsible to the Mayor. In addition the Affirmative Action Officer shall: 1. Provide information to all agency staff regarding civil rights laws. 2. Assist individuals in filing complaints with appropriate agencies. 3. Bring possible violations of the law to the attention of the Mayor~ Committee for Human Relations. 4. Utilize community action techniques to change institutional policies or practices which discriminate against minorities and women in regards to employment by the City o~ Bremerton. 5. Assist line management in collecting and analyzing employment data, identify problem areas, establishing goals and time tables and developing programs to achieve such goals. Programs are t~ include specific remedies to eliminate discrin;- inatory practices in the employment system. 6. Serve as liason between the City of Bremerton, government regulatory agencies, minority and various organizations and other eommunity groups. B. DEPARTMENT EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFICERS In cooperation with the Affirmative Action Officer, each department head shall within forty-five days after this plan~ approval select a person in the department ,to have the additonal duties of the departmental Equal Opportunity Officer, (EO0). Each EOO shall suggest to the Civil Service Commission methods of actively recruiting minorities and women. This person shall aid new employees in adjusting to working conditions through periodic checks of the new person's progress in adapting to the department. It shall additionally be the respon- sibiltiy of the EOO within Forty-five days after appointment to list specific steps he or she plans to implement so that department performs its part in helping the City reach its overall A~irmative Action goals. These departmental p~n wi±± be reviewed quarterly or as required by the ~ffirmative Action Officer to determine relative departmental success and if necessary, recommend needed changes to the plan. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT A. Recruitment The Civil Service Commission shall expand recruitment to include butnot be limited to the following: (1) contact minority and women's organizations to inform them of our policy of Affirmative Action; (2) expand our mailing list to include sending "Call for Applicants" bulletins to those groups for all open and competitive examinations ~ithin the City; the mailing list shall include bu~ not be limited to: 1) NAACP 2) National Organization for Women 3) Business and Professional Womens Club (all chapters) 4) Kitsap County Central Labor Council 5) Council on Aging 6) Olympic College 7) East High School 8) West High School 9) Filipino American C~mm~nity of Bremerton 10) Kitsap Inter-Tribal Parents Education Council 11) League of Women Voters (3) encourage minority and women employees of the City of Bremerton to refer their friends and spread information about this policy within the community; (4) make available to the minority and women's organizations the name and office phone number of the City's Affirmative Action Officer. (5) all adw~tising for the purpose of recruiting applicants for employment with the City of Bremerton shall include the phrase "Equal Opportunity Employer" -2- B. Job Requirements and Qualifications The Affirmative Action Officer in cooperation with the Personnel Office shall revise all city job classifications to,reflect the minimum qualifica- tions of a job,~utside recruitment shall be geared to reach all groups. C. Examinations and Tests Development of valid tests shall be done on an as-used basis until all city tests can be validated. Validation will be done by studying the contents of each test. Emphasis will also be placed on devel- oping sample tests for entry-level positions and setting a time and place for applicants to famil- iarize themselves with these samples. In the administration or development of employment tests or testing procedures, the City shall adhere to the Federal guidelines on testing. D. Education. and Training The Civil Service Commission shall schedule conferences, seminars, and inservice training sessions for supervisors and managers for the purposes of familiarizing these persons with their responsibilities and the purposes of this Affirmative Action Program. In addition, training shall be provided for employees and will be d~signed to increase their sensitivity and awareness of the causes and effects of all forms and race and sex discrimination. An agressive effort shall be made to provide maximum job knowledge and skills training for minorities and women employees and the other groups covered by this plan. Training shall be designed within each department by the department Equal Opportunity Officer to develop the knowledge and skills needed to compensate for past educational discrimination, to perform satisfactorily, to advance on the job, and to fill anticipated positions based on personal projections. The Affirmative Action Officer shall monitor all such programs and their funds, and shall report progress to the Mayor on a regular basis. The Equal Employment Opportunity training program shall: 1. Within sixty (60) days after the approval of the Affirmative Action Plan, the Bremerton Affirmative Action Officer shall: a. Arrange a training session for the Equal Opportunity Officers on Equal Opportunity laws and regulations and the role and responsibility of the EOO's with reference to; 1. Evaluation implementation of the plan. 2. Responsibility of the EOO's in enforcement of civil rights and Equal Employment Opportunities. b. The training will also cover the complaint procedure established by the Affirmative -3- Action Plan. c. This training will be delivered within sixty (60) days after approval of the plan and will be repeated if there is significant change in Equal Opportunity Officers or in the laws or regulations. New members will be provided copies of the material as a p~tion of their orientation program. 2. Within ninty (90) days after approval of the Affirmative Action Plan, the Affirmative Action Officer, shall conduct and or arrange for a staff training session for all staff. This session shall be considered a general orientation for agency staff and will cover but not nec- essarily be limited to: a. Agency Affirmative Action Plan b. General Staff responsibilities c. Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity laws and regulations. 3. In addition to the above orientation/training session, the Affirmative Action Officer shall arrange and conduct, a special staff training session for supervisory and management personnel. This session shall cover but not be limited to: a. Specific staff responsibilities in imple- menting the Affirmative Action Plan. b. Supervisory and management personnel re- sponsibility for assuring equal employment opportunities. E. Supervisor Evaluation A comprehensive performance review program for department heads shall be developed by the Civil Service Commission. EaCh department head shall be rated at least annually by the Mayor and included in the evaluation shall be the progress toward the departmental Affirmative Action goals. The plan will continue annually thereafter. F. Exit Interviews The City Affirmative Action Officer shall hold exit interviews with all terminating employees with emphasis on discovering and eliminating discrimina- torypractices. Upon discovery of a discriminatory practice the Affirmative Action Officer will investigate and make recommendations as to the nature of the problem and suggest measures to correct the problem. REPORTS AND RECORDS Each department will file quarterly, reports with the Affirmative Action Officer on: (1) any personnel actions involving minorities or women, listing the type of action taken and a detailed explanation if the action was dis- ciplinary in nature; (2) the number of people in the department by race, and sex for each federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission job category on the City "Affirmative Action Quarterly Status Report"; (3) a description of all programs --4-- and other measures undertaken to achieve the goals of the program. Special reports may be requested at any time from specific departments to check solutions to problems peculiar to the specific department. The Affirmative Action Officer will use this data along with records kept on the disposition of all minorities and women in the City's testing process to prepare quarterly progress reports for the City Council and the Mayor§ Committee on Human Relations on the prog~s being made in achieving the Affirmative A~ion goals. The City Affirmative Action Officer shall also undertake a review of the plan's success over a full year on the anniversary date of the plan's adoption. Recommended changes to the plan shall be made to the City Council within thirty (30) days after the anniversary date each year in order to keep the plan current in its adherence, to all local, state and federal regulations; in its definition of problem situations throughout the City; and in its implementation of new avenues of interest and future goals to dispell all areas of discrimination within the City government's jurisdiction. POLICY DISSEMINATION This Affirmative Action Plan will be sent to all departments for posting and the policy statement will be posted in authorized areas in all divisions of every department in the City. All first line supervisors will be responsible for bringing the Affirmative Action Policy Statement and Plan to his or her subordinates attention. The City's Affirmative Action Officer shall have the responsibility of seeing that the plan is made available upon its final approval to the local news media and local organizations representing minorities and women. In all advertisements for personnel the City shall be listed as an equal opportunity employer. -5- AFFIRMATIVE ACTION COMPLAINT PROCEDURE The following outlines the Affirmative Action complaint pro- cedure of Bremerton and applies to all City employees. As a portion of the normal employee orientation, all new employees shall be introduced to the Affirmative Action Officer (AAO) and advised that the AAO shall be available for counsel~in~ and discussion of any complaint or grie- vance against any employee or policy of the City of Bremerton or any other problem which is influencing, or could influence job performance. In addition, all employees will be advised that they may meet with the Affirmative Action Officer without notification to their supervisor and that disposition of the complaint will be handled in the following manner and time-frame. A. Complaint Procedure 1. Submission of Equal Oppor..tunity Problems Any person who believes he or she has encountered discrimination becau~ of race, color, religion, sex~ national origin or age should first discuss the problem with the Affirmative Action Officer or immediate supervisor. Problems may be submitted by any person, group or representative with the approval of the aggrieved person. 2. A complaint need not be entered on any particular form; howeVer, the complaint must be in writing and signed by the complainant or his or her authorized representative and must include the following information: a. Name and address of complainant. b. Name and address of respondent. c. The facts upon which the complaint was based, including the reasons the complainant believes he or she has encountered discrimination because of his or her race, color, religion, sex, national origin or age. d. Date or dates on which the alleged discriminatory action occurred and the date of the submission of the formal complaint. e. A copy of the recommendation of the conciliation panel, if one was held. f. If a panel was involved, the reasons why the recommendations of the panel did not result in a satisfactory resolution of the problem. 3. Action by the Affirmative Action Officer a. The Affirmative Action Officer has the initial responsibility for resolving problems of dis- crimination within the agency. The aggrieved person shall be free from restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination, or reprisal in connection with his or her problem or'grievance. The Affirmative Action Officer shall not reveal the identity of an aggrieved person who has come for consultation, except when authorized to do so by the aggrieved person. -6- b. The Affirmative Action Officer shall make every effort to resolve the problem informally. To this end, the Affirmative Action Officer shall, if re- quested by the employee, assist in discussion with his or her supervisor or any other party to the problem and may take other steps which may assist in the resolution of the problem. c. The aggrieved person has the right to be accomp- anied, represented and advised by a representative or attorney, of his or her own choice. d. The Affirmative Action Officer shall be given access within the agency to information necessary to provide the aggrieved person with a basis for determining whether he or she has grounds for filing ~ a formal civil rights complaint. The complaint may not be withdrawn without the knowledge of the Affirmative Action Officer. The Affirmative Action Officer shall be free from restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination or reprisal in connection with the performance of his or her duties under this policy. 4. OpportunitY for Conciliation Panel a. If the problem is not resolved by the Affirmative Action Officer to the aggrieved person's satis- faction within fifteen (15) working days from the time the problem is first discussed with the Affirmative Action Officer, the aggrieved person may request a conciliation panel. The responsibility for arranging for the conciliation panel rests with the Mayors Human Relations Committee or its representative. The panel shall be approved by the aggrieved person and by the respondent. b. The panel will consider all relevant evidence presented by the aggrieved person, and the re- spondent, and will conduct such sessions as may be necessary to hear the testimony of all re- levant witnesses. The hearing must begin within (5) days after the panel has been selected. The panel will have twenty (20) working days after the completion of testimony to make its findings and recommendations unless a longer time is agreed upon by both parties and the panel. c. If the conciliation panel agrees upon a solution satisfactory to both parties, the terms of the settlement shall be incorporated into a conciliation agreement as the basis for settling the problems. Copies of this shall be sent to the aggrieved person, the respondent, and the Affirmative Action Officer, and shall be signed by each. 5. Reports on Complaint Efforts When the Affirmative Action Officer has completed his or her work to resolve the problem, he or she shall prepare a findings of fact and concilation agreement to be signed by both parties and a copy to remain in his or her files. The report of the conciliation panel, if one is convened, shall also become part of ~he file maintained by the Affirmative Action Officer. These files shall be provided by the Affirmative Action Officer to the investigator if the problem is filed as a formal compl~nt with any other agency, to the Mayors Committee on ~uman Relations upon request, or to the City Attorn~'s office~upon request. ,' -8-