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SECTION 1.
PURPOSE.
.01 This Order
sets forth Department policy and requirements for affirmative action
plans, program, and related activities.
.02 This revision changes the title of this Order and reflects changes
in Department administrative requirements, and those contained in EEO
Management Directives 713 and 714 issued by the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
SECTION 2.
AUTHORITY AND APPLICABILITY.
This Order is
prepared pursuant to the authorities and functions assigned to the
Office of Civil Rights in Department Organization Order 20-10. It
applies to the Office of the Secretary and all operating units.
SECTION 3.
POLICY.
It is the policy
of the Department of Commerce to provide equal opportunity in
employment for all persons without regard to race, color, religion,
sex, national origin, age or handicap; to promote a continuing
affirmative employment program for groups which are employed at less
than representative levels in the Department's work force; and to
ensure that management and personnel policies, practices and procedures
are non-discriminatory in intent and impact.
SECTION 4.
DEFINITIONS.
.01 Equal
Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program. The EEO Program encompasses
efforts to provide fair and equitable treatment for employees and
applicants for employment. Specific efforts include the elimination of
employment barriers, and affirmative actions to recruit, employ,
advance and retain members of groups which are employed at less than
representative levels in the work force of the Department, or any of
its component organizations.
.02 EEO Group. A term which refers to members of race and national origin
groups by sex, i.e., white males, white females, black males, black
females, Hispanic males, Hispanic females, Asian males, Asian females,
American Indian or Alaskan Native males, and American Indian or Alaskan
Native females. For purposes of this Order, handicapped persons
including disabled veterans will be considered members of EEO groups.
.03 Representation. A term which denotes parity between an EEO group's
employment percentage in a Departmental organization, and the group's
corresponding percentage in the Civilian Labor Force, or other
appropriate measure of the group's presence in the Nation's labor
force. Such comparisons are made when affirmative employment program
plans are initially developed, or when they are updated. If a group is
employed in the work force of a Department organization at less than
its corresponding rate in the labor force, it is not fully represented.
SECTION 5.
BACKGROUND.
The 1972
amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 address the problem of
employment discrimination in the Federal Government. These amendments
and subsequent legislation results in requirements for the development
of affirmative action plans for minorities and women, handicapped
individuals, and disabled veterans. These requirements have their basis
in the following statutes:
a. Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (P.L. 92-261). Section
717(b)(1) requires departments, agencies and appropriate units to
prepare and submit national and regional equal employment opportunity
plans (now referred to by EEOC as "affirmative employment program
plans"). The affirmative employment program plan covers both sexes
of each race and national origin group;
b. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-112). Section 501(b) requires
departments and agencies to submit affirmative action plans for the
hiring, placement, and advancement of handicapped individuals;
c. Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (P.L.
93-508). Section 403 requires departments and agencies to prepare plans
for the hiring, placement, and advancement of disabled veterans; and
d. Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-454). Section 310 requires
Executive agencies to conduct continuing affirmative recruitment
programs for minorities and women to improve their representation in
Federal employment. This effort is known as the Federal Equal
Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP). See DAO 215-3).
SECTION 6.
RESPONSIBILITIES.
.01
Responsibilities of the Secretary include:
a. Approving Departmentwide affirmative action plans and objectives;
b. Ensuring that heads of operating units, Secretarial Officers and
employees in the Senior Executive Service are held accountable for
achievement of affirmative action requirements and objectives; and
c. Providing sufficient resources and systems for administration of the
Department's affirmative action programs.
.02 Responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary for Administration
include:
a. Approving policies, directives, and other materials on the
Department's affirmative action programs;
b. Reporting to the Secretary on the status of affirmative action
programs within the Department;
c. Ensuring that affirmative action objectives are designed to remedy
identified problem areas; and
d. Fulfilling, on behalf of the Secretary, those responsibilities in
paragraph 6.05 of this Order which require action at the operating unit
and Office of the Secretary levels.
.03 Responsibilities of the Director for Personnel and Civil Rights
include:
a. Establishing policies and procedures which ensure that:
1. Personnel programs and operations are non-discriminatory;
2. Data contained in the Department's personnel file(s) are accurate
and secure; and
3. Support of affirmative action goals and objectives is a factor in
the annual performance appraisals of supervisors and managers.
b. Informing executives and managers of Department policy and
requirements for affirmative action programs; and
c. Clearing written responses to external requests for information
about the Department's affirmative action programs. Such information
may apply to the Department or any of its component organizations.
.04 Responsibilities of the Department's Director of Civil Rights
include:
a. Developing policies, directives and guidance on the Department's
affirmative action programs;
b. Establishing affirmative action program goals and objectives for the
Department in consultation with heads of operating units, and preparing
Department affirmative action plans;
c. Providing assistance to operating units on the preparation,
implementation and monitoring of affirmative action programs, plans and
related activities;
d. Developing policies and program guidance for EEO training, and
identifying problems in management and supervision attributable to
inadequate EEO training;
e. Conducting on-site evaluations to periodically assess the status of
operating unit affirmative action programs, and the effectiveness of
Department policy and program guidance. These evaluations are part of
the Department's Program Management Evaluation Program; and
f. Reviewing operating unit affirmative employment program plans to
ensure they are consistent with EEOC and Departmental instructions, and
address problem areas.
.05 Responsibilities of Heads of Operating Units include:
a. Approving the operating unit affirmative employment program and
FEORP plans, and organizational input to the Department Handicapped and
Disabled Veterans Plans;
b. Integrating development and implementation of the affirmative
employment program plan, and activities to improve employment of the
handicapped and disabled veterans, with other internal management
systems, e.g., budget and performance management process;
c. Providing sufficient resources, including data processing support,
for affirmative action programs, plan development, implementation, and
monitoring;
d. Ensuring, through the performance appraisal process, that managers
and supervisors contribute to, and are accountable for the achievement
of affirmative action goals and objectives;
e. Fostering and environment which supports the objectives of
affirmative action programs;
f. Appointing a Principal EEO Official who will be the primary point of
contact on equal opportunity issues; and
g. Designating a FEORP Coordinator who will be responsible for
development of the organization's FEORP Plan.
.06 Responsibilities of Principal EEO Official include:
a. Informing executives and managers of Departmental policy, and
Departmental and operating unit requirements for affirmative action
programs;
b. Overseeing administration of affirmative action programs within the
operating unit and its components;
c. Consulting with personnel officers and management officials to
identify barriers to the employment of groups covered by affirmative
action plans, and to develop strategies for overcoming barriers and
implementing such plans;
d. Preparing affirmative employment program plans, attendant reports,
and other information which the Department's Office of Civil Rights
will use for preparation of Departmental Handicapped and Disabled Veteran
Affirmative Action Plans;
e. Submitting plans, reports and other information described in
subparagraph "d" above, to the head of the operating unit for
approval, then to the Department's Office of Civil Rights;
f. Providing affirmative action goals and objectives to appropriate
personnel offices, and a description of support activities needed from
these offices to achieve goals and objectives;
g. Evaluating the effectiveness of affirmative action program efforts
within the operating unit and, if appropriate, its components;
h. Promoting an accountability system for supervisors and managers
which emphasizes positive affirmative action results;
i. Promoting equal opportunity training for executives, managers and
supervisors, particularly probationary supervisors; and
j. Ensuring that employees with full-time, part-time or collateral duty
affirmative action program responsibilities are:
1. Knowledgeable about affirmative action programs;
2. Qualified to perform assigned duties;
3. Adequately trained to carry out specific responsibilities; and
4. Provide with sufficient resources to satisfactorily perform such
responsibilities.
.07 Responsibilities of Principal and Servicing Personnel Officers
include:
a. Employing recruitment strategies, including those identified in
FEORP Plans, and other support activities which facilitate the
achievement of affirmative action goals and objectives for client
organizations;
b. Working with managers, supervisors and EEO officials to achieve
affirmative action goals and objectives;
c. Reviewing performance plans, of managers and supervisors and
reporting to management the need for improved affirmative aciton
related performance elements or activity items;
d. Maintaining a system or process to identify probationary
supervisors;
e. Verifying that probationary supervisors have completed required EEO
training, or have demonstrated competency in EEO before completion of
the probationary period;
f. Making special efforts to accommodate the reasonable needs of
handicapped employees and applicants for employment;
g. Ensuring that accurate data on employees are contained in the
Department's automated personnel file; and
h. Ensuring that all qualification requirements, including selective
placement factors and rating criteria, are job valid and do not present
barriers to the employment of any EEO group.
.08 Responsibilities of managers and supervisors include:
a. Being knowledgeable about affirmative action programs requirements;
b. Incorporating affirmative action goals and objectives in performance
plans, as appropriate;
c. Contributing to the achievement of organizational affirmative action
goals and objectives;
d. Informing personnelists or other recruiters of the need to search
for a diversity of applicants to establish a balanced work force;
e. Considering affirmative action objectives when staffing positions in
employment categories which are not fully represented by groups covered
by affirmative action plans. Employment categories include pay systems,
grade levels and occupations in white and blue collar employment
classifications;
f. Using special appointment authorities when appropriate to further
the goals of the Handicapped and Disabled Veterans Programs;
g. Ensuring that subordinate, probationary supervisors meet EEO
training or competency requirements described in Civil Rights Bulletin
83-1 before certifying that probationers have satisfied such
requirements; and
h. Making special efforts as necessary to accommodate the reasonable
needs of handicapped employees.
SECTION 7.
PLAN DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION.
The head of each
operating unit shall ensure that:
a. Affirmative employment program plans, reports and activities for the
handicapped and disabled veterans are prepared consistent with guidance
from the Department's Office of Civil Rights;
b. The focus of such plans and activities are directed toward improving
the employment of groups which are not fully represented, or are
represented at less than desirable levels;
c. Managers and supervisors use the full complement of special
employment programs, special appointment authorities and training to
further the aims of affirmative action programs, e.g., Cooperative
Education, Upward Mobility Training, Selective Placement and
supervisory training; and
d. Equal opportunity, personnel and management officials work
cooperatively to achieve the objectives of affirmative action programs.
SECTION 8.
EFFECT ON OTHER ORDERS.
This Order
supersedes DAO 215-4, dated March 28, 1983.
___________(signed)_________________________________
Assistant Secretary for Administration
Office of Primary Interest
Office of Civil Rights
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