|
|
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Compliance
|
Mission Statement
Objective
Under the general direction of the President, and the appointed Oversight
Committee, and with the advice of the General Counsel, the Mission of the
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Compliance (hereinafter
"Office of EEO/AA Compliance" or "this Office") shall be to ensure that the
Medical University of South Carolina is consistently in compliance with all
federal, state and local requirements respecting non-discrimination and affirmative
action in employment.
Policies and Procedures
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance will write or review all employment
policies and practices established by Human Resources Management, the Provost
and by individual departments and provide guidance to the authors respecting
the compliance of same with the Equal Employment Opportunity Clauses of various
Federal statutes, and with other Federal and state laws, including but not
limited to Executive Order 11246, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
as amended; The Rehabilitation Act, The Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Assistance
Act, The Equal Pay Act, The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Age Discrimination
in Employment Act and other Federal and state statutes having to do with non-discrimination
in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin,
age, disability or status as a covered veteran.
Specifically, this Office shall disseminate the Equal Employment Opportunity
Policy internally and shall assist other departments in disseminating the
policy externally as may be required or desirable as a matter of law and/or
University policy.
Preparation of Written Affirmative Action Programs and Federal
and State Reports
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance shall be responsible for the
preparation and mandatory annual update of the written Affirmative Action
Program for Women and Minorities and the written Affirmative Action Program
for Disabled Workers and Covered Veterans. Further, this Office shall
be responsible for the preparation and mandatory annual submission of certain
written affirmative action programs (AAPs) and reports on the workforce as
may be required by the South Carolina State Human Affairs Commission.
This Office shall be responsible for the preparation of other reports having
to do with employment demographics such as the relevant portion of the Integrated
Post-Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Report and the VETS-100 Report.
All such AAPs and reports are to be reviewed and approved by the General Counsel
prior to being finalized each year and shall be reviewed by General Counsel
prior to submission to any Federal, state or local agency. No other
publication of these reports shall be made without specific authorization
by General Counsel.
Internal Auditing
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance shall advise all appropriate
managers of records that must be kept, including retention periods and data
that must be collected in order that required reports and monitoring can be
accomplished by this Office. This Office does not create nor maintain
data but rather uses data. It is the responsibility of this Office to
identify, to the parties which create and maintain employment data, what data
are needed so that this Office can investigate, monitor and report on compliance,
both internally and externally as necessary.
Specifically, this Office shall be responsible for the timely audit of selection
decisions on at least an annual basis, as is required by Federal law.
These analyses shall include applicants; selections for hire, promotion or
transfer, and reclassifications to determine the comparative selection rates
of minorities, non-minorities, women and men. Further, this Office will
perform or direct the performance of periodic studies of compensation to
ensure that compensation decisions are being made in accordance with established
University policies and applicable law. These reports are to be reviewed
with General Counsel and shall be performed under his or her specific direction.
Representation of the Medical University of South Carolina
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance, exclusively and under the
supervision of the General Counsel, shall be responsible for the representation
of the University in any administrative proceeding before any Federal, state
or local authority. Such proceedings include, but are not limited (except
as provided below) to a compliance review conducted by the Office of Federal
Contract Compliance Programs, and investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission or a formal investigation of employment discrimination matters
by any external enforcement agency including the State Human Affairs Commission.
Similarly, this Office shall be responsible for the investigation of complaints
by employees or applicants which allege that some action by MUSC has occurred
or failed to occur because of the race, color, religion, sex national origin,
age, disability or covered veteran status of the complainant(s) where such
persons have sought that these complaints be addressed internally.
Except, that the Office of EEO/AA Compliance will not be responsible for
representation nor investigation in those proceedings or complaints for which
there is already an established framework; for example, a faculty grievance
or a complaint to the Gender Equity Council. It is further understood
that this Office will not have responsibility for complaints that are essentially
employee relations matters, notwithstanding the race or gender of the complaining
employee. When a complaint is made to this Office there will be an initial
determination if the complaint alleges that the action or inaction grieved
would not have occurred if the complainant had been of another race, gender,
etc. -- that is, a claim that the basis for the behavior complained of was
unlawful discrimination. If the complaint does not so demonstrate, the
complainant will be referred by this Office to the appropriate human resources
grievance or conflict mediation procedure.
It shall be the duty of the Office of EEO/AA Compliance to represent the
interests of the Medical University of South Carolina in all such investigations
and proceedings in which it participates in any fashion. At times, that
interest may best be represented by resolution of complaints by employees
or applicants in favor of such employees or applicants, or by conciliation
of alleged wrongdoing in negotiation with the challenging enforcement agency.
However, at no time will this Office engage in advocacy on behalf of any party
other than the Medical University of South Carolina.
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance shall represent
MUSC at meetings pertaining to equal employment opportunity and affirmative
action matters.
Internal Reporting, Communication and Training on
Equal Employment Opportunity Matters
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance shall be responsible for communication
and feedback to appropriate MUSC managers with respect to equal employment
opportunity and affirmative action matters. This shall include, but
is not limited to, review of proposed position statements and resolution documents
for all complaint investigations or compliance reviews with the appropriate
MUSC managers prior to external submission of same; providing copies of and
sharing information regarding responses from complainants and external enforcement
agencies and guidance on possible prevention of future complaints.
Importantly, this communication and feedback will also include information
on established AAP Goals for women and/or minorities where same are underutilized
in any Job Group; progress towards meeting such annual placement goals; and
selection rates of minorities and women in all jobs for which either a Job
Group goal has been established or a previous disparity in selection rates,
by department, has been observed. Similarly, this Office shall provide
guidance to HRM on expected availability of women and minorities in applicant
pools so that, in the case of possible deficiencies, HRM can work with selection
departments to develop improved recruiting strategies including such methods
as new affirmative recruiting sources, longer recruiting time frames and review
of selection criteria.
Using all information available, but especially statistical data on applicant
pools, estimated availability, and actual selection rates, this Office will
identify to senior administration officials potential "problem areas", particularly
as these are defined in Federal regulations for written affirmative action
programs. In addition, based on such information and data, this Office
will identify necessary avenues of further inquiry, as well as make initial
recommendations to University management for corrective action.
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance shall have primary responsibility
for designing and delivering training in equal employment opportunity, affirmative
action and employment diversity topics to the University community, including
bringing any outside speakers to the campus for such purpose.
Relationship to the Medical University Hospital Authority
Specifically, the Office of EEO/AA Compliance, as directed by the President,
will provide these same services and exercise the same representation of interests
for the Medical University Hospital Authority with the guidance of the legal
counsel who represents said Authority.
|
|
|
