The Evolving Role of the Affirmative Action Officer

Insight into Diversity
Shirley J. Wilcher
June 2011 Issue

Since the signing of Executive Order 10925 in 1961 and Order 11246 in 1965, the person assigned the responsibility to promote equal opportunity through affirmative action has had an evolving role. The affirmative action officer’s profession in 2011 reflects the changes society has made since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the divergent views about affirmative action itself. Executive Order 11246 requires that federal contractors not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Order also requires that a contractor take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The regulations implementing the Order require that non-construction (supply and service) employers with 50 employees and $50,000 in federal contracts prepare a written affirmative action program for each of their establishments. This document is a “management tool designed to ensure equal employment opportunity.” The regulations go on to state:
A central premise underlying affirmative action is that, absent discrimination, over time a contractor's workforce, generally, will reflect the gender, racial and ethnic profile of the labor pools from which the contractor recruits and selects. Affirmative action programs contain a diagnostic component which includes a number of quantitative analyses designed to evaluate the composition of the workforce of the contractor and compare it to the composition of the relevant labor pools. Affirmative action programs also include action-oriented programs. If women and minorities are not being employed at a rate to be expected given their availability in the relevant labor pool, the contractor's affirmative action program includes specific practical steps designed to address this underutilization. Effective affirmative action programs also include internal auditing and reporting systems as a means of measuring the contractor's progress toward achieving the workforce that would be expected in the absence of discrimination.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the function of “EEO [equal employment opportunity] officers, representatives, or affirmative action coordinators” to include handling equal employment opportunity matters. “They investigate and resolve EEO grievances, examine corporate practices for possible violations, and compile and submit EEO statistical reports.” Over time, employers who were not covered by the Executive Order also created the affirmative action position to prepare, establish and implement comparable programs. Thus, the affirmative action profession includes contractor and non-contractor establishments. In the federal government, such professionals are responsible for compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sec. 2000e-16. [Section 717], which requires an “affirmative program of equal opportunity” in government agencies. Management Directive 715 forms the guidance for implementing affirmative employment programs.

Full Story: http://www.insightintodiversity.com/diversity-issues/magazine-articles/60-magazine-articles/840-the-evolving-role-of-the-affirmative-action-officer-by-shirley-wilcher.html