12- 181 C.M.R. ch. 2, § 4 - Affirmative action program
a.
Definition and Purpose
1. An
affirmative action program is designed to ensure equal opportunity and prevent
discrimination in apprenticeship programs. An affirmative action program is
more than mere passive nondiscrimination. Such a program requires the sponsor
to take affirmative steps to encourage and promote equal opportunity, to create
an environment free from discrimination, and to address any barriers to equal
opportunity in apprenticeship. An affirmative action program is more than a
paperwork exercise. It includes those policies, practices, and procedures,
including self-analyses, that the sponsor implements to ensure that all
qualified applicants and apprentices are receiving an equal opportunity for
recruitment, selection, advancement, retention and every other term and
privilege associated with apprenticeship. An affirmative action program should
be a part of the way the sponsor regularly conducts its apprenticeship
program.
2. A central premise
underlying affirmative action is that, absent discrimination, over time a
sponsor's apprenticeship program, generally, will reflect the sex, race,
ethnicity, and disability profile of the labor pools from which the sponsor
recruits and selects. Consistent with this premise, affirmative action programs
contain a diagnostic component which includes quantitative analyses designed to
evaluate the composition of the sponsor's apprenticeship program and compare it
to the composition of the relevant labor pools. If women, individuals with
disabilities, or individuals from a particular minority group, for example, are
not being admitted into apprenticeship at a rate to be expected given their
availability in the relevant labor pool, the sponsor's affirmative action
program must include specific, practical steps designed to address any barriers
to equal opportunity that may be contributing to this
underutilization.
3. Effective
affirmative action programs include internal auditing and reporting systems as
a means of measuring the sponsor's progress toward achieving an apprenticeship
program that would be expected absent discrimination.
4. An affirmative action program also ensures
equal opportunity in apprenticeship by incorporating the sponsor's commitment
to equality in every aspect of the apprenticeship program. Therefore, as part
of its affirmative action program, a sponsor must monitor and examine its
employment practices, policies and decisions and evaluate the impact such
practices, policies and decisions have on the recruitment, selection and
advancement of apprentices. It must evaluate the impact of its employment and
personnel policies on minorities, women, and persons with disabilities, and
revise such policies accordingly where such policies or practices are found to
create a barrier to equal opportunity.
5. The commitments contained in an
affirmative action program are not intended and must not be used to
discriminate against any qualified applicant or apprentice on the basis of
race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age (40 or
older), genetic information, or disability.
b.
Adoption of affirmative
action programs. Sponsors, other than those
identified in paragraph (d) of this section, must develop and maintain an
affirmative action program, setting forth that program in a written plan. The
components of the written plan, as detailed in this Chapter, must be developed
in accordance with the respective compliance dates and made available to the
Maine Apprenticeship Program any time thereafter upon request.
c.
Contents of affirmative
action programs. An affirmative action program
must include the following components in addition to those required of all
sponsors as identified in section 2.3 of this Chapter:
1. Utilization analysis for race, sex, and
ethnicity, as described in section 2.5;
2. Establishment of utilization goals for
race, sex, and ethnicity, as described in section 2.6;
3. Utilization goals for individuals with
disabilities, as described in section 2.7;
4. Targeted outreach, recruitment, and
retention, as described in section 2.8;
5. Review of personnel processes, as
described in section 2.9; and 6. Invitations to self-identify, as described in
section 2.11 of this Chapter.
d.
Exemptions-
1.
Programs with fewer than five
apprentices. A sponsor is exempt from the requirements of paragraphs
(b) and (c) of this section if the sponsor's apprenticeship program has fewer
than five apprentices registered, unless such program was adopted to circumvent
the requirements of this section.
2.
Programs subject to approved equal
employment opportunity programs. A sponsor is exempt from the
requirements of paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section if the sponsor
both submits to the Maine Apprenticeship Program satisfactory
evidence that it is in compliance with an equal employment opportunity program
providing for affirmative action in apprenticeship, including the use of goals
for any underrepresented group or groups of individuals, which has been
approved as meeting the requirements of either title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, as amended (
42
U.S.C. 2000e
et seq.)
and agrees to extend such program to include individuals with
disabilities, or if the sponsor submits to the Maine Apprenticeship Program
satisfactory evidence that it is in compliance with an equal employment
opportunity program providing for affirmative action in apprenticeship,
including the use of goals for any underrepresented group or groups of
individuals, which has been approved as meeting the requirements of both
Federal Executive Order 11246, as amended, and section 503 of the
Rehabilitation Act, as amended (
29 U.S.C.
793 ), and their implementing regulations at
title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 60:
Provided, that programs approved, modified or renewed
subsequent to the effective date of this amendment will qualify for this
exception only if the goals for any underrepresented group for the selection of
apprentices provided for in such programs are likely to be equal to or greater
than the goals required under this part.
e.
Written affirmative action
plans. Sponsors required to undertake an
affirmative action program must create and update a written document
memorializing and discussing the contents of the program set forth in paragraph
(c) of this section.
1.
Compliance
i.
Apprenticeship programs existing as of the date this Chapter
is effective. The initial written affirmative action plan for existing sponsors
must come into compliance within 180 days of the effective date of this plan or
within two years of registration, whichever is later. The written affirmative
action plan for such programs must be updated every time the sponsor completes
workforce analyses required by sections 2.5(b) and 2.7(d)(2).
ii.
Apprenticeship programs
registered after the effective date of this chapter. The initial
written affirmative action plan for such programs must be completed within two
years of registration. The written affirmative action plan for such programs
must be updated every time the sponsor completes workforce analyses required by
sections 2.5(b) and 2.7(d)(2) of this Chapter.
Notes
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