Adopted by President’s Cabinet 12/20/17
Revisions Adopted by President’s Cabinet 9/25/18

Affirmative Action Policy

This policy ensures fair treatment of all employees and applicants as well as compliance with related laws.

Equal Employment Opportunity: East Georgia State College affirms equal employment opportunity for its employees. No person shall, be excluded from employment or participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination, harassment or retaliation under any program or activity conducted by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia or East Georgia State College based on any characteristic protected by law. Incidents of discrimination, unlawful harassment and retaliation will be met with appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. Responsibility for ensuring compliance and continued affirmative implementation of the policy is assigned to the Chief Human Resources Officer who is the Affirmative Action Officer for the College. A copy of the East Georgia State College Affirmative Action Plan is available for inspection in the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer and the College Library between the hours of 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding official college holidays.

Affirmative Action Plan

An Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) is an annual report containing information and analysis of the college’s workforce by race, gender and job group. This includes an analysis of current qualified college employees for each job group. The college’s workforce data is compared with the demographics of qualified and available individuals in the relevant local and regional labor pool. If protected individuals (women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, veterans) are underutilized in a given job group at EGSC, placement goals are established. The AAP’s narrative contains this information as well as the college’s efforts to remedy the inequities and remove barriers for the underutilized groups.

The college must make a good faith effort to address underutilization by completing the following steps:

    • Identify and remove barriers that negatively affect underutilized groups;
    • Support inclusion through respect and equal dignity of all persons;
    • Review recruitment strategies to ensure focused outreach;
    • Ensure equal representation in all applicant pools for all job groups and at all levels in the college; and
    • Put forth retention efforts and provide professional development opportunities for underutilized groups equal to the efforts and opportunities afforded others in the workforce.

The college must be able to show that it has taken vigorous, active, measurable steps to ensure that qualified women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and covered veterans are included in applicant pools and be able to objectively demonstrate that the selection process was fair and consistent. The Office of Human Resources works with unit heads and search committees to relay the affirmative action policy, underutilization in job groups, recruitment strategies, and professional development opportunities.

Affirmative action does not allow the use of quotas. All employment decisions must be based on merit as determined by an applicant’s qualifications.

The annual Affirmative Action Plan and recommendations are shared with and approved by the President’s Cabinet. All employees are required to participate in annual Affirmative Action Policy and Plan training.