1. How to Write an Affirmative Action Plan
Crystal Gilreath, Employee Relations Specialist
UTHSC, Office of Equity and Diversity
May 8, 2007

2. A Historical Perspective
The earliest legal requirement of equality dates back to 1866
All people will have the full and equal benefit and protection of all laws enjoyed by white citizens
Modern law was passed in 1964 in the form of the Civil Rights Act
Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, gender and national origin.
Other laws have followed: the Age Discrimination Act (ADEA), the 1972 Equal Employment Act (created the EEOC), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Pregnancy Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.

3. Executive Order 11246 Signed by President Johnson in 1965
Requires affirmative action in federal employment as well as federal contractors
Enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) within the Department of Labor

4. Preferential Treatment?
“Affirmative Action is not preferential treatment. Not does it mean that unqualified persons should be hired or promoted over other people. What affirmative action does mean is that positive steps must be taken to provide equal opportunity for those who have been discriminated against in the past and who continue to suffer the effects of that discrimination. For OFCCP, affirmative action is the tool; EOO is the goal.”
OFCCP: Making EEO and Affirmative Action Work, 1979)

5. Glossary of Terms

6. What is Included in an Effective AAP?
Practical steps to address underutilization of specific groups
Action-oriented programs
Internal auditing and reporting systems as a means of measuring progress
Institutionalizing the contractor’s commitment to equality
Policies, procedures and practices that are/will be implemented

7. Who Must Prepare an AAP?
The Rule: You are required to have an AAP if you have more than 50 employees and supply/service contracts with the government worth more than $50,000.

8. Race, gender/national origin
Getting Started
Select your plan year
Gather your information
Census Data (2000) –
Hiring Information
Termination Information
Employee Information
Placement goals
Race, gender/national origin

9. Mandatory Components Organizational Profile
A job group analysis and the placement of incumbents in job groups
Availability determinations along with a description of the methodology used to determine availability for the job groups
Comparison of incumbency to availability
Placement goals, if applicable, and a description of the methodology used
Designation of the responsibility for implementing the AAP
In-depth analyses of the employment process that were conducted to determine if impediments exist and a list of problem areas
Action-oriented programs that will be implemented to correct any problem areas identified and to established goals and objectives
Internal audit and reporting systems that are used to measure the effectiveness of the AAP

10. Preparing Your Organizational Profile
Presented in the form of either the traditional workforce analysis or the newly introduced organizational display
To get started, consider your racial categories:
List of all applicants and every active employee (including part-time), as of the opening date of your plan year
Includes gender and race or ethnic category
(* White or minority and, if minority, by each minority subgroup: Blacks, Hispanics, Asians/Pacific Islanders, or American Indians/Alaskan Natives)

11. Organizational Display
Identify each organizational unit in your organization
Show the relationship of each unit to the other unit in the organization
For each unit, indicate:
Name
Job Title, gender, race and ethnicity of the unit supervisor
Total number of male and female incumbents
Total number of male and female incumbents in each of the following categories: Blacks, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives

12. Workforce Analysis Alternative to the Organizational Display
Requires a listing of each job title as it appears in the payroll records
Rank from lowest to highest paid in each department or other similar unit
For each job title, supply:
Total number of people currently holding the job
Total number of male and female incumbents in each of the following minority subgroups: Blacks, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asians/Pacific Islanders
Wage rate or salary range for each job title

13. Job Group Analysis
First step to comparing minorities and women in the your workforce with the estimated availability of qualified minorities and women who could be employed
Separately list the % of minorities and the % of women it employs in each job group
Contractors with fewer than 150 employees may use the EEO-1 job categories – all others need to create their own job groups based on:
Similar job duties and responsibilities
Compensation
Opportunities for advancement with the workforce

14. EEO-1 Categories 01 – Officers and Managers 02 – Professionals
03 – Technicians
04 – Sales Workers
05 – Office and Clerical
06 – Craft Workers (Skilled)
07 – Operatives (Semiskilled)
08 – Laborers (Unskilled)
09 – Service Workers

15. AAP for Minorities and Women
With the information we have already gathered, we are now able to determine if underutilization exists
Your first step:
Compare the representation of minorities and women in its workforce with the estimated availability of minorities and women qualified to be employed.

16. Availability Analysis
Will produce an estimate of the number of qualified minorities and women available for employment in a given job group (in the form of a %)
Purpose is to establish a benchmark against your workforce is compared in order to determine if barriers to equal employment exist

17. Two-Factor Analysis
Factors required to be examined in conducting an availability analysis
1. The % of minorities or women with requisite skills in the reasonable recruitment area (external factor)
2. The % of minorities or women among those promotable, transferable, and trainable within your organization (internal factor)

18. Conducting Your Analysis
For each job group, add the number of minorities and women and divide by the number of total number of employees
This will determine the % of available minorities and women within that job group

19. Job Group Analysis XXXXXXXXX (INSERT CHART)
Create the following chart to complete your two-factor analysis:
XXXXXXXXX (INSERT CHART)
Assign value weights – do you recruit more minorities and women from the reasonable recruitment are or does it recruit more minorities and women by promotion, transfer, and training with your organization?
Weighted Factors
Raw Data x Value Weight = Weighted Factors

20. Incumbency v. Availability
If you have found the % of minorities or women in a particular job group to be less than would be expected, you must establish a placement goal
To establish what would be reasonably expected use one of the following methods:
Any Difference Rule – determines whether any difference exists
One Person Rule – determines whether the difference between available and the actual employment of minorities or women equals more than one person
“80% Rule” (or the ¾ Rule) – Actual employment of minorities or women is less than 80% of their availability
Two Standard Deviations Analysis – Does the difference exceed the two standard deviations test of statistical significance?

21. Action-Oriented Programs
Show your good-faith efforts to establish goals and objectives to remove barriers, expand opportunities and produce measurable results by:
Periodically auditing your organization and measuring the results
Monitoring records of all personnel activity, including referrals, placements, transfers, promotions, termination, and compensation at all levels
Requiring managers to periodically report to you on their efforts to meet EEO goals – review report results with all levels of management
Advise top administration of program effectiveness and submitting recommendations to improve unsatisfactory performance

22. Establishing Your Placement Goals
Where you determine there to be an underutilization for minorities or women, you must establish placement goals
The % annual placement goal should be at least equal to the availability figure derived for the job group
*Quotas are expressly forbidden

23. Disparities in Compensation
Begin by making sure there are no obvious differences in compensation for employees who are doing the same job
Determine the average salary fo0r each job group and then average length of service for each job group – compare this to the average salary for each gender group, racial group or ethnicity group in that job group
If there is a statistically significant difference between the job group and the protected group, (and cannot be explained by length of service), a disparity exists
Corrective action should be taken when disparity is determined

24. Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities
No formal, numerical goal-setting is required
Utilize the VETS 100 Report to produce this portion of the AAP (only required reporting form)
Will include your Affirmative Action Clause
Typically submitted as a separate volume of the AAP because of confidentiality issues – since this document is open for review by the public

25. Tools to Help Many software programs are available for purchase
The Census Bureau’s website:
The Department of Labor’s website:

26. Questions?