Chapter 2.105 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Chapter 2.105
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Sections:

2.105.020 Implementation responsibility.

2.105.010 Policy.

It shall be the policy of the City of Mountlake Terrace to provide equal employment opportunity for all persons from all areas of the community regardless of race, sex, creed, national origin, age or sensory, mental or physical handicap. All decisions as to hiring and continuous employment with the City of Mountlake Terrace shall be made according to an individual’s ability to learn and perform the duties of the position that person is being hired for or currently holds. However, such passive prohibition of discriminatory practices is not enough. Positive, aggressive measures shall be taken to effect changes that will provide opportunities for meaningful employment of those persons or groups who have been victims of discrimination. The following Affirmative Action Plan sets up methods and procedures enabling this policy to be met. (Ord. 992 § 1, 1975).

2.105.020 Implementation responsibility.

The City Manager shall assign responsibilities of Affirmative Action Officer to an appropriate employee. The Affirmative Action Officer will coordinate the Affirmative Action Plan of the City. This person will also develop, implement, and maintain a system which monitors the effectiveness of the plan. 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 developments in the equal opportunity area, and updating the Affirmative Action Plan as necessary.

In cooperation with the Affirmative Action Officer, each department director shall function as Departmental Equal Opportunity Officer. The Departmental Equal Opportunity Officers shall confer with the Affirmative Action Officer to discuss their assigned duties and expanded roles within their departments. Among other duties, each departmental director (Equal Opportunity Officer), within 45 days after implementation of a plan, must list specific steps to be implemented so that the department performs its part in helping the City reach its overall Affirmative Action goals. The Affirmative Action Officer will review the departmental plans annually with the Equal Opportunity Officers to determine relative success and, if necessary, recommend needed changes to the plans. The Affirmative Action Officer may also confer with Equal Opportunity Officers as deemed necessary.

The additional duties of implementing departmental Affirmative Action procedures by department directors (Equal Opportunity Officers) shall be considered an integral duty of their jobs and shall be a criterion for evaluating personnel performance. (Ord. 992 § 2, 1975).

2.105.030 Program development.

A. Recruitment. The City Manager and department directors shall expand recruitment to include, but not 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 these groups for all open and competitive examinations within the City; the mailing list shall include but not be limited to:

a. Snohomish County Human Resources Center;

b. Employment Security Department;

c. Western Sun;

d. Enterprise.

3. Encourage racial minority and employees within each Department who are of either male or female minority with that Department of the City of Mountlake Terrace to refer their friends and spread information about this policy within the community;

4. Make available to minority organizations the name and office phone number of the City’s Affirmative Action Officer in order that these groups may suggest possible built-in bias in our recruiting and testing processed among other things, that the City may fail to recognize in its review of these procedures.

B. Job Requirements and Qualifications. The Affirmative Action Officer, in cooperation with the Department Directors, shall recommend revisions to all City job classifications to reflect only those requirements necessary to perform a job. Until this revision is completed, revision of current job classifications for which the City of Mountlake Terrace is recruiting shall have priority and will be revised before the job requirements are posted for recruiting purposes.

C. Examinations and Tests. Civil Service tests shall be given as necessary for uniformed employees. Civil Service regulations will be followed.

D. Education and Training. The Affirmative Action Officer shall assist in scheduling conferences, seminars, and in-service training sessions for supervisors and directors for the purpose 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 designed to increase their sensitivity and awareness of the causes and effects of race and sex discrimination.

An aggressive effort shall be made to provide maximum job knowledge and skills training for all full-time employees. Training shall be designed within each department by those people responsible for departmental training 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 manpower projections.

E. Supervisor Evaluation. The City’s Affirmative Action Officer shall annually submit a report to the City Manager on the achievements each department has made toward department Affirmative Action. The first evaluation shall be at the end of 1975, and annually thereafter.

F. Exit Interviews. The City Affirmative Action Officer shall hold exit interviews with all terminating employees with emphasis on discovering discriminatory practices that can then be evaluated and eliminated.

G. Retention. When it becomes necessary to undertake a work force reduction within City employment, the plan for force reduction will try to maintain the percentage of women and minorities employed immediately prior to force reduction, to the extent that this can be done within the limits of Civil Service regulations and/or union contracts. (Ord. 992 § 3, 1975).

2.105.040 Reports and records.

The Affirmative Action Officer shall keep records on:

A. Any personnel actions involving racial minorities or members of the sexual minorities in each department, listing the type of action taken and a detailed explanation if the action was disciplinary in nature;

B. The number of people in each department by race, and sex for each federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission job category on a City “Affirmative Action Annual Status Report”;

C. A description of all programs 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);

D. Reports of all new full-time hires as of the effective date of the adoption of this policy.

The Affirmative Action Officer will use this data, along with records of the progress being made in achieving the Affirmative Action goals. Written progress reports shall be available for review by the City Council, the Washington State Human Rights Commission, and the general public. Periodic reports will also be sent to the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission according to the most current federal requirements.

The City Affirmative Action Officer shall also undertake a review of the success of the City-wide plan over a full year as part of the annual report. Recommended changes to the plan shall be considered with the objective of keeping 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 dispel all areas of discrimination within the City government’s jurisdiction. (Ord. 992 § 4, 1975).