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Personnel Policy and Procedures Manual

Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action

PPP # 10-00
Policy on Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action

PURPOSE

The purpose of the Diversity Plan is to reinforce the City's commitment to the principle of equal employment opportunity. The City voluntarily uses a Diversity Plan to create an inclusive environment where diversity is valued so that individual/teams will be inspired to contribute fully to the organization's success. The City will strive to be recognized by our employees and community as an employer of choice.

SCOPE

The policy is inclusive of actions affecting employment and employees or those individuals in prospect of becoming employees.

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. City Manager:
The ultimate authority and responsibility for the implementation of the Diversity Plan and all related decisions rests with the City Manager.

2. Diversity Officer:
The Director of Personnel is the Diversity Officer. The Diversity Officer is delegated by the City Manager to be responsible for the implementation of the Diversity Plan including, but not limited to:

a. developing education and training programs on the Plan and its implementation for supervisory personnel; and,

b. providing advice and counseling on the Plan and its implementation.

PRINCIPLES

The City of Rockville is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity. It is the City's general policy to recruit, train, promote, and make all employment decisions without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, disability, age, sexual orientation, or other improper consideration in accordance with applicable laws. To reinforce the City's commitment to equal employment opportunity, the City has voluntarily adopted a policy on diversity. In addition, a policy statement prohibiting harassment may be found in the Employee's Code of Conduct, PPM# 180-00.

The City has expanded, and will continue to expand, its recruitment activities, reaching out to potential minority and female applicant groups.

The City of Rockville will take action to recruit and select qualified minority and female applicants for positions in an attempt to establish as closely as possible a work force, which mirrors the constituency it services.

The Diversity Plan should not be construed as an admission that the City has violated any person's right to equal employment opportunity. Similarly, the Diversity Plan does not constitute an expressed or implied contract between the City and any of its employees, job applicants or other persons.

The City of Rockville's Diversity Plan is designed to guide the City's recruitment, hiring, and promotion activities.

PPP # 10-10
Procedure on Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action

PURPOSE

The purpose of this Procedure is to implement the Policy on Diversity. (PPM# 10-00)

GENERAL RULES

The Director of Personnel will assure that there is equal employment opportunity and equal application of City policies for all persons regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or any other factor which may define them as a protected class under city, state, or federal law.

The goal of the Diversity Plan is to reach appropriate minority, female and other group representation in the City's workforce relative to the availability of those groups of individuals in the general population.

To that end, whenever a position vacancy is to be filled, the Director of Personnel will:

1. Assure adherence to the appropriate policies for the action including but not limited to employment, promotion, transfer, etc.;

2. Identify the job categories to which the position belongs;

3. Inform the hiring supervisor and department director as to the job category in which the job class being recruited belongs; and

4. Review all screening criteria to assure job relativity and equal application.

The department director will assure that the communications from the Director of Personnel are disseminated to the hiring supervisor and understood. The department director will also assure that, all other requirements being equal, consideration is given to those applicants who may be identified being minority or female individuals.

Hiring supervisors will assure that all recruiting and screening devices are applied equally and fairly in determining suitability to fill vacancies. They will also assure that all other requirements being equal, consideration is given to those individuals or groups identified as underutilized by reference to the Affirmative Action Plan and reports, should underutilization be present.

The hiring supervisor, through the department director, will submit to the Director of Personnel all criteria and devices to be used in the decision-making process for selection of individuals for positions. The Director of Personnel will review these materials and devices to assure they are job-related.

Subsequent to the selection process, all materials, devices, ratings, etc., used in the process will be forwarded by the hiring supervisors through their department directors to the Director of Personnel, who will review the process to assure fair and equal application. In cases where qualified minority and female individuals were available for consideration and had fulfilled all the qualification standards, and where, after application of all screening criteria has been completed, those individuals rated equal to or above all other candidates; then those individuals are to be given every consideration for the vacancy.

Qualification standards as cited above simply refer to the minimum requirements for the position and adherence to the relative policies for employment, promotions, transfers, etc.

Screening criteria may include training, experience, skills, abilities, certificate and license requirements, interviewing, validated testing, etc.

Should all things be equal and minority or female individual class not be selected, the supervisor through the department director must supply a detailed memorandum to the Director of Personnel citing the reason and cause for the decision. Only valid job-related criteria may be considered as acceptable reason or cause for such action.

Of primary consideration in this process must be the good of the City service. The supervisor must therefore identify those individuals who meet those requirements reasonably necessary to perform the job and who will best serve the interests of the City of Rockville.