4111.1 - Equal Employment Opportunity

Personnel — Certified and Non-Certified

4111.1/4211.1 - Equal Employment Opportunity- Affirmative Action Plan

The Board of Education (Board) will provide equal employment opportunities for all persons without regard to race, color, religious creed, age, veterans’ status, genetic information, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, physical disability, or past or present history of mental disorder, intellectual disability, learning disability or any other protected status. The Board directs the administration to set as a goal the recruitment, selection and employment of qualified people among racial and ethnic minority groups to the end that the District’s employees will proportionately mirror the racial and ethnic composition of this community.

No advertisement of employment opportunities may by intent or design restrict employment based upon unlawful discrimination as defined by law.

Legal Reference:

Connecticut General Statutes

4a-60 Nondiscrimination and affirmative action provisions in contracts of the state and political subdivisions rather than municipalities

4a-60a Contracts of the state and political subdivisions, other than municipalities, to contain provisions re nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation

10-153 Discrimination on account of marital status.

46a-60 Discriminatory employment practices prohibited.

46a-81a Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation

Title VII, Civil Rights Act 42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq.

The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended, 38 U.S.C. §4212

Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008

Policy adopted: March 2007

Revised: October 2018

Personnel — Certified and Non-Certified

R4111.1/4211.1 - Equal Employment Opportunity

The Director of Human Resources and the Affirmative Action Committee will prepare an affirmative action plan including the following components:

1. Materials for in-service workshops.

2. A tabulation of data regarding present staff composition in race and sex for both professionals and non-professionals.

3. Data on staff turnover rates, expected retirement, opportunities for career advancement, and projected staff needs.

4. An analysis of the community labor market for potential district applicants.

5. A comparison of employment status with the demographic data on community labor market.

6. A program to establish and maintain relationships with placement officers around the country, who counsel and help place female and minority graduates.

7. A public relations program that welcomes minorities and females as professional staff members.

8. Updating of application forms to eliminate all discriminatory questions.

9. Goals and timetable for implementation of the affirmative action plan.

Evaluation and Monitoring of Affirmative Action Plan

Evaluation and monitoring of the affirmative action plan will be accomplished on a continuing basis. The monitoring official will be the Superintendent of Schools or designee who will work with the affirmative action committee to make an ongoing review of the affirmative action effort in the district.

Under the direction of the Superintendent or designee, internal audit procedures, plans for maintaining and updating the database, and plans for maintaining records will be developed. Reports will be submitted to the Board of Education annually.

In addition, the Superintendent will furnish the Board the following information for each recommended appointment for all positions:

1. Whenever possible, a tabulation of race and sex of all candidates who make formal written application for the position.

2. List of contacts outside normal employment channels.

3. If the recruitment of minorities and/or women is unsuccessful, an analysis will be made to determine why recruitment failed to produce a competitive minority applicant for the position (e.g., no applicants were obtained from pertinent agencies contacted).

Administrators and supervisors with responsibility for hiring and promoting shall be evaluated, as part of regular performance evaluation (or in consideration for promotion), on their achievements in meeting the district's commitment to affirmative action.

Employment and Placement

Procedures relating to employment and placement will be reviewed and amended periodically to ensure non-discrimination:

1. Qualifications needed for a job and job descriptions will be reviewed by the affirmative action committee to ensure that they are realistic and do not involve inadvertent discrimination.

2. Application forms will be reviewed and revised periodically by the affirmative action committee.

3. A removable section for each interviewer's comments will become part of the application form. This section will be removed when the application form is forwarded to another interviewer. This is an effort to ensure that subsequent interviewers are not influenced by opinions of earlier interviewers.

4. Any testing procedures which might be used in the future for selection and/or placement will be validated for job-relatedness.

5. Personnel policies will comply with federal and state fair employment regulations.

Administrator's and Supervisor's Roles in Equal Employment Opportunity: Interviewing and Hiring

This section provides guidelines to help in interviewing and selecting candidates for positions with this school district. Each guideline is followed by a brief explanation of the reasons certain actions or basis for decisions may be considered discriminatory. One of the most important factors in any hiring decision is that the applicant be able to do the job for which he/she is applying:

1. Educational requirements.

Guideline: An employer must be prepared to demonstrate why a job requires the employee to have a specified level of education.

Explanation: In geographic areas where there are significant differences in the average educational levels of minorities and non-minorities, the employer who requires a specific level of education automatically eliminates from consideration a disproportionate percentage of minorities.

Consequently, unless the employer can demonstrate why the educational requirement is needed, the EEOC is likely to find it unlawful. The EEOC and the courts will accept evidence from an employer that a specified level of education is necessary for satisfactory job performance or that there is a clear and close relationship between educational level and performance on the job.

2. Family status: pregnancy and dependents.

Guideline: Applicants should not be questioned by interviewing supervisors about their dependents, family plans, or a condition of pregnancy.

Explanation: The Supreme Court has held that women with children must be hired on the same basis as men with children unless the employer can show that this practice would seriously affect the operation. Employers may not presume that child care is the responsibility of the woman and that a working mother's reliability will be more affected by child care problems than a working father's.

The EEOC has stated that any written or unwritten employment policy or practice which discriminates against applicants because of pregnancy is in violation of Title VII. The EEOC also has held that a company policy of refusing to hire unwed parents is discriminatory. Even if the illegitimacy standard were applied equally to males and females, the policy would have a disparate effect on women since it would be easier for an employer to know that a female applicant had a child out of wedlock than it would be to know that a male applicant has fathered an illegitimate child.

3. Arrest and conviction records.

Guideline: An employer may not automatically disqualify an applicant from employment consideration because the applicant has a police record.

Explanation: There is ample evidence that certain minority groups as a class are arrested and convicted much more frequently than whites. Therefore, to use an applicant's police record as a rigid standard of employment eligibility would automatically disqualify a disproportionate percentage of minorities. For this reason, the EEOC, with court approval, considers such policies in violation of Title VII, unless an employer can demonstrate "business necessity" for retaining the policy. The EEOC suggests that employers handle the matter of an applicant's police record on a case-by-case basis, considering the type of charge, how long ago the incident occurred, the applicant's age at the time of the incident, whether the charge resulted in a conviction, and the applicant's subsequent behavior.

Connecticut law prohibits the use of arrest records. It also prohibits inquiry about criminal background on an initial employment application except where required by law and for bonding purposes.

Authority to make this kind of determination rests with the Superintendent of Schools or designee. Prospective employees should not be questioned about police records except by authorized personnel representatives.

4. Accommodation to religious beliefs.

Guideline: Supervisors are expected to make reasonable accommodation to the religious needs of applicants when this will not result in an undue hardship.

Explanation: Under Title VII, employers are obligated to make “reasonable accommodations to the religious needs” of their employees, where such accommodations do not result in an undue hardship on the employer.

It is up to the employer to prove that such religious accommodations result in an undue hardship to his/her business. The "religious need" of employees could include a required mode of dress, time off for Sabbath observance or inability to work on certain prescribed days for religious reasons. Supervisors should not, however, make employment decisions based on applicants' religious needs without first consulting the Superintendent of Schools or designee.

5. Manner of Speaking

Guideline: It is unlawful to reject an applicant because of the applicant's foreign accent or lack of fluency in English unless either condition will affect satisfactory job performance.

Explanation: The EEOC will find unlawful the rejection of an applicant because of his/her manner of speaking if the manner of speech is peculiar to the applicant's race or national origin. This guideline is applied most often when applicants speak with a foreign accent.

The final decision regarding an applicant whose manner of speaking has been questioned will be made by the Superintendent of Schools or designee.

Legal Reference:

Connecticut General Statutes

4a-60 Nondiscrimination and affirmative action provisions in contracts of the state and political subdivisions rather than municipalities

4a-60a Contracts of the state and political subdivisions, other than municipalities, to contain provisions re nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation

46a-60 Discriminatory employment practices prohibited.

Executive Order 11246, 42 U.S.C. 2000e note.

Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. 206 (d).

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, Pub.L. 11-2.

Regulation Approved: March 2007

Revised: October 2018