Frequently Asked Questions
Hasn't the Regents' Resolution SP-2
and California Proposition
209 eliminated affirmative action?
No. As a federal contractor,
the University is obligated to comply with federal laws and regulations
regarding affirmative action and nondiscrimination in employment.
These obligations include ensuring diverse pools of applicants for
campus positions; developing and implementing affirmative action plans
that identify areas of underutilization of minorities and women; developing
and disseminating annual placement goals and demonstrating good faith
efforts to eliminate underutilization. The Regents' Resolution SP-2
and California Proposition 209 (if implemented) both contain provisions
that require continued compliance with federal regulations to keep
the University eligible to receive federal funds.
Will managers still need to be accountable for meeting affirmative
action objectives?
Yes. Managers are responsible for making good faith efforts toward achieving affirmative
action goals and objectives and should be evaluated on their performance in this area.
How can good faith efforts toward meeting affirmative action
goals be achieved without taking into consideration race, ethnicity,
or sex in hiring or training and developing employees?
In hiring, departments may only consider AA goals when recruiting for positions. Race, ethnicity and gender
cannot be used during the selection process once the applicant pool
has been developed. So when there are openings, departments can make
good faith efforts by identifying affirmative action placement goals,
entering the goals on the Job Vacancy Listing form and supplementing
general outreach efforts with targeted recruitment to underutilized
minorities and women. This helps ensure that a diverse applicant pool
will be available. When there is underutilization, race, ethnicity
and gender can be used in the recruitment process without violating
SP-2 and Proposition 209. In training and development, departments
can make career advancement/promotional opportunities available to
interested and qualified employees, including minorities and women.
How will a department know that they've been successful with
department-level targeted recruitment?
Departments can compare the affirmative action placement goal to the
relevant ethnic and gender percentage in the applicant pool. If the
applicant pool data closely matches or exceeds the placement goal
percentage, then the targeting was successful. For information on
the composition of the applicant pool during the recruitment period,
contact your Employment Analyst. Note: Only those applicants
who self-identify are counted in the ethnic/gender composition of
the applicant pool.
If department-level targeted recruitment hasn't been successful,
what else can a department do?
Consult your Employment Analyst or Outreach Coordinator for alternative
strategies. If you feel you have already done your best even though
it did not yield the expected results, you can proceed in the hiring
process, but document your good faith efforts on the Interview
Data Form.
Are there funds available to assist departments who do not
have money to do targeted recruitment?
No central funds are available. However, in many cases, targeted recruitment
does not mean the need for more money, but more creativity. For example,
departments with similar occupational job openings can share advertising
costs. Contact your Employment Analyst or the Outreach Coordinator
for ideas.
Can recruitment advertisements for campus positions encourage
minorities and women to apply?
Yes. Advertisements must continue to state that the University is
an "Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer."
It is also recommended for advertisements to state that "all
qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, including minorities
and women."
What if there's control unit underutilization for a position
in a department where there is good representation department-wide
in that group? Must they still target recruitment?
Yes. Because there is underutilization, every good faith effort must be made to ensure that a diverse
pool will be available.
Doesn't underutilization show that the campus is discriminating
against certain groups?
No. It is neither a finding of discrimination nor a finding of a
lack of good faith affirmative action efforts. Rather, underutilization
is a technical targeting term used exclusively by affirmative action
professionals to measure affirmative action programs.
Why aren't American Indians or Hispanics underutilized in
the Executive Program Senior Management Group? They certainly seem
to be underrepresented.
Utilization analysis (in the affirmative
action sense) compares the percentages of minorities or women qualified
and available for a given job group against their representation in
the actual job group; when the representation is less than the availability,
underutilization exists. The numbers of minorities or women in the
actual job group is not compared against the numbers of women or minorities
in the general population. Occupational parity is the criteria used
for determining underutilization, not population parity. The availability
for American Indians and Hispanics in the Senior Management Group
is 0.4 and 3.4 percent, respectively.
Why isn't underutilization determined at the departmental
level?
In many cases, the work force numbers would be too small to be interpretable.
Should Vietnam-era veterans, special disabled veterans, and
persons with disabilities be included in recruitment efforts even
though there are no goals for them?
Yes. Federal regulations require contractors
to take affirmative action to employ and promote qualified veterans
of the Vietnam era, special disabled veterans, and persons with disabilities.
However, since determination of underutilization is not a requirement
for these groups, availability is not calculated for them and no goals
are set.
Can the University ask applicants to self-identify their status
as Vietnam-era veterans, special disabled veterans, and individuals
with disabilities?
No. The University may no longer ask applicants to self-identify,
even voluntarily, their status in the above categories
until after an offer of employment has been made and before the person's
employment commences.
You may also wish to review the "Questions and Answers about the "Implementation of SP-2 and Proposition 209: How They Impact UC's Employment," created by the UC Office of the President.
Prepared by the Staff
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Compliance Office
University of California, Berkeley.