Name that Section - Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

Name that Section: Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

Recruitment Procedures that are compliant with Prop. 209 while promoting workforce

diversification.

As a first step in this process, updated regulations adopted in 2002 were designed to comport

with Prop. 209, as interpreted by key cases such as

Connerly v. State Personnel Board

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Pursuant to the post-Prop. 209 regulations, California community college districts are required to

develop EEO Plans. Specifically, the EEO Plan is defined as: “a written document in which a

district’s workforce is analyzed and specific plans and procedures are set forth ensuring equal

employment opportunity.”

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Therefore, while Prop. 209 may have invalidated traditional

affirmative action programs, promoting diversity in the workplace remains a legal obligation for

community colleges.

Walking the balance of increasing workforce diversity and adopting the required EEO Plan,

without violating Prop. 209, is the challenge every community college is faced with. To assist

with this challenge, the State Chancellor issued a

Model EEO Plan and Guidelines for California

Community Colleges

(

“Model Plan”

) followed by a series of statewide trainings on these

materials. However, despite the

Model Plan

, difficulties and ambiguities remained.

For example, initially the

Model Plan

continued to require components that relied upon

availability data, despite its unreliability. After a series of collaborative discussions between

community college representatives (including Liebert Cassidy Whitmore) and the State

Chancellor’s office, the State Chancellor recognized the inherent flaws in the availability data

and the need to modernize EEO strategies. As a result, at the 2008 ACHRO convention, during

two joint sessions between the Chancellor’s Office and Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, the Systems

Office announced that it would no longer require the utilization of availability data for EEO

Planning, for permanent academic or administrative staff. It subsequently suspended any

required utilization of availability data for any employee groups. The Chancellor’s Office April

25, 2012 Program Advisory continued to advise that districts need not prepare EEO Plan

components that rely upon availability data. The current regulations have eliminated any

required consideration of availability data. Instead, they state that if and when the State

Chancellor’s Office develops such data, it should be considered.

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Also in 2008, recognizing that the reliance on availability data was outdated, a Title 5 EEO

subcommittee was formed to develop new objectives and methods of assessing diversity that

could be incorporated into revised Title 5 EEO regulations for both EEO Planning and EEO

Hiring procedures. The revised Title 5 EEO regulations, which became effective in October

2013, represent a significant step toward modernizing EEO practices in community colleges.

The below tools are designed to assist community colleges in clarifying these legal complexities

and identifying what community colleges can and should be doing now in two respects:

The first tool is a section devoted to developing EEO Plans. This section is designed to work in

tandem with the Chancellor’s

Model Plan

, providing both overarching strategies and specific

suggestions for districts to create compliant and workable EEO Plans. The second tool is a

section devoted to developing and implementing lawful and effective hiring strategies. The

section identifies the three critical stages of the hiring process that can positively or negatively