(a) Corrective Action Programs. At this time the City intends to achieve full utilization of both minorities and women by intensive recruiting of minorities and women for City employment.
(b) Recruitment.
(1) With a long history of being unfairly discriminated against in both the private and governmental employment markets, many minority members and women are wary of applying for City jobs. Other factors which may discourage minorities and women from applying are:
A. A lack of information about job openings;
B. A lack of transportation;
C. A fear of approaching the bureaucratic structure;
D. A fear of being rejected again;
E. A fear of written examination or interview;
(2) For many cities, including this City, with traditional forms of civil service, recruitment is the key to increasing the number of minority and women applicants for employment and thus increasing the probability of minorities and women qualifying by examination and being appointed to vacant positions. For all these reasons, it is essential that the City reach out to women and minorities in their community. The entire County shall be utilized as the geographic recruiting area for the City with special emphasis placed on the City and its residents. Recruitment efforts shall be concentrated in the City, focusing primarily upon its residents. The Affirmative Action Officer and the Equal Opportunity Specialist shall be directly responsible for the recruitment program. The Community Relations Board can also do much to supplement and assist in the effort. Members of the Board shall be strongly encouraged to send representatives or be included themselves on outreach recruitment teams.
(3) An intensive recruitment campaign is necessary to reach and persuade qualified minorities and women in the community to apply for employment with the City. The campaign will be broad and far-reaching, employing the following techniques and programs:
A. Increased and expanded publicity about job openings and examinations, not only in local media of all types (i.e. newspapers, television, radio), but also in minority media and women's interest media;
B. Word-of-mouth advertising through all City employees, asking them to spread the word that minority and women applicants are welcome for all positions;
C. Increased contacts, verbal and written, publicity and referrals with minority and women's organizations such as the YWCA, the NAACP, the Urban League, secondary schools and colleges, church groups and minority and women's sororities and fraternities. Techniques shall include pamphlets, flyers, posters and referrals.
D. Maintenance of a minority job bank by the Affirmative Action Officer and the Equal Opportunity Specialist. Such bank shall consist of a listing of skilled and unskilled minorities seeking employment and shall be made available as a referral source to area businesses.
(c) Testing.
(1) No affirmative action policy or program is viable in an employment structure without the existence of an adequate employee selection procedure or a merit system. The absence of job descriptions in the classification system for the minority of Municipal employees is also a large obstacle. These shortcomings must be rectified before an affirmative action program can be effectively implemented.
(2) As used in this chapter, "test" means any paper-and-pencil or performance measure used as a basis for any employment decision. "Test" includes, but is not restricted to, a measure of general intelligence, mental ability and learning ability; specific intellectual ability; mechanical, clerical and other aptitudes; dexterity and coordination; knowledge and proficiency; occupational and other interests; and attitudes, personality or temperament. "Test" includes all formal, scored, quantified or standardized techniques of assessing job suitability, including, in addition to the above, specific qualifying or dis- qualifying personal history or background requirements, scored interviews, biographical information blanks, interviewer's rating scales, scored application forms, etc.
(3) In order to have a fair and equitable employee selection process, the use of valid tests is imperative. A test lacking demonstrated validity, i.e. having no known significant relationship to job behavior and yielding lower scores for classes protected by Executive Order 11246, as amended, may result in the rejection of many persons who have necessary qualifications for successful work performance. Section 202 of Executive Order 11246, as amended, requires each government contractor and subcontractor to take affirmative action to ensure that he or she will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or handicap. Such order is designed to serve as a set of standards for contractors and subcontractors subject to Executive Order 11246, as amended, in determining whether or not their use of tests conforms with the requirements of the Executive Order.
(4) To be able to develop a valid examination, job descriptions must be thorough and complete. A full description of all duties and tasks involved in each of the jobs on which research has been conducted and for which the test will be used must be provided.
(5) By reason of its responsibilities, as outlined in the City Charter, the Civil Service Commission must assume the initial burden for modifying the present employee selection procedure of the City. The following changes and expansions must be made in and through the operation of the Commission:
A. The classified service, as defined in the City Charter, must be expanded to its legal limit and clarified. The Commission is authorized to test for approximately eighty-five percent of all Municipal positions and must begin doing so.
B. Persons interested in employment or a particular position shall be referred to the Commission or the Safety-Service Office. The Commission will not utilize an open application procedure. This means that someone interested only in general employment and not a specific position shall not be able to file an application in the Civil Service Office. Applications are not accepted until a specific position is posted or announced. However, a person may file an application with the Safety-Service Office and not indicate any specific position. The application of such person shall be xeroxed and filed and a Rolodex card shall be completed with a notation of the applicant's work experience.
C. All persons passing the examinations shall be placed on an eligibility list for the position, from which list the Safety-Service Director shall choose in filling the opening. Such lists shall remain in effect for one year, subject to the rules of the Commission. Such lists shall also be used in the minority job bank maintained by the Equal Opportunity Office.
(6) Two procedures are necessary prerequisites to the expansion prescribed in paragraph (5) hereof, as follows:
A. Job descriptions must be formulated and analyzed for every position under Civil Service jurisdiction. Such descriptions shall include the specific duties, the functions and the pay scale of the position.
B. Validated tests must be developed for every classified position. Every test must be job-related (employing the job descriptions cited above) and may include skill tests, manual or otherwise.
(7) The Civil Service Commission cannot be expected to assume all the wide-ranging functions enumerated in this section with its present staff and budget. Although the Affirmative Action Officer and Equal Opportunity Specialist will work closely with the Commission in accordance with this section, a full-time Secretary and/or Director should be hired for the Commission. Such additional personnel will provide a two-fold advantage:
A. Facilitate the accomplishment of the above three programs; and
B. Enable the Commission office to be open to the public every day of the week, thereby improving relations with the community.
(8) The goals enumerated in this section are, of necessity, short range in scope. The Civil Service Commission should be in full-strength operation with all job descriptions completed and testing developed and in use by January, 1984.
(d) Training; Career Opportunities; Job Restructuring. The establishment and improvement of career ladders in the employment structure of the City through the implementation of job restructuring and training programs is essential both to the efficient operation of the Municipal government and the satisfaction of the employees of the City. Some effort can begin immediately to provide training for such employees. Concurrently with the affirmative action program, after job descriptions and analyses have been completed for every position in the City departments, a job restructuring study can be undertaken to identify and improve, where necessary, the career ladders open to City employees. As with the job descriptions, there are outside Federal and private agencies available to undertake this study at a nominal cost. Another alternative would be to train personnel already employed by the City to perform this type of study, again at nominal cost. This portion of the program shall be considered a future endeavor. Far more important, now, are concerns for complete job descriptions and validated testing procedures.
(Ord. 83-90. Passed 4-4-83.)