Hiring Guidelines and Laws

As a supervisor, Equal Employment Opportunity means you:

• provide equal access to all available jobs, training, and promotional opportunities
• provide similar benefits and services to everyone
• apply all policies and practices consistently to applicants and staff
• do not differentiate among applicants or employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, or age.

In other words, EEO forbids employment discrimination. It requires the elimination of any bias in personnel activities.

Affirmative action is a set of specific, results-oriented programs and activities designed to correct under-utilization of minorities and women in the workplace.

Your Role

As a supervisor, you are often faced with personnel decisions: Should you hire this applicant? Whom should you promote? What corrective action should you take with an employee?

Every one of your personnel-related actions is affected by EEO law. If you violate EEO law, the University must bear the responsibility. To prevent such violations, it's not enough to simply know that the law forbids discrimination. You should know the specific kinds of discrimination to avoid in your day-to-day activities with job applicants and staff. Your job involves many different personnel functions, including hiring, training, promotion, termination, and others. Below are examples of actions you can take to fulfill EEO/AA responsibilities:

• Ensure bias-free selection processes by forming diverse selection committees, evaluating candidates on job-related criteria, and completing and maintaining necessary records such as the Interview Data Form.
• Promote accountability for EEO/AA by ensuring that responsibilities in this area are clearly indicated in the applicable job descriptions of managers and supervisors who report to you.
• Evaluate the performance of your supervisory staff in implementing established EEO/AA responsibilities.
• Educate yourself by participating in relevant training and education programs on campus and encouraging subordinate staff with EEO/AA responsibilities to do the same.
• Provide reasonable accommodations such as assistive devices, job restructuring, and site modification for disabled staff members.
• Maintain a hospitable work environment; ethnic jokes and harassment of any kind should not be tolerated.
• Review all personnel activities for potential differential impacts on different groups and unintentional bias in such personnel actions as selection, salary increases, promotion, reclassification, layoff, corrective action, training, and termination.
• Encourage and invest in staff development, ensuring that all staff have access to opportunities.
• Make sure all staff are informed of the University's non-discrimination policy and the procedures for resolving discrimination complaints.

Supervisors are responsible for meeting the commitments established by campus policies and federal and state regulations. The Chancellor annually distributes the campus policy on EEO/AA to members of the campus community. Campus commitment to EEO/AA is further shown by adherence to federal and state legislation and University policy, including:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion, and national origin.
• Executive Order 11246, as amended, forbids employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin by federal contractors and subcontractors and requires them to develop affirmative action plans and to take positive steps to eliminate employment bias.
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits discrimination against employees and applicants who are over 40 years of age.
• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs or activities that receive federal funds.
• The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal contractors to take affirmative action to employ and promote qualified handicapped persons (Section 503) and prohibits discrimination against handicapped persons in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance (Section 504).
• Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended requires employers to take affirmative action to employ and advance disabled veterans and qualified veterans of the Vietnam era.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) protects qualified individuals with disabilities. The Act requires employers to make reasonable accommodation to facilitate employment of disabled individuals unless the employer can show the accommodation would impose undue hardship on the operation of business.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1991 expands the scope of relevant civil rights statutes to provide adequate protection to victims of discrimination, and provides appropriate remedies for intentional discrimination and unlawful harassment in the workplace.
• The Regents' Resolution SP-2 prohibits the University of California from using race, religion, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as criteria in its employment practices. It does not prohibit any action that is strictly necessary to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal or state program, where ineligibility would result in a loss of federal or state funds to the University. SP-2 became effective on January 1, 1996.
• California State Proposition 209 prohibits the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. It does not prohibit action that must be taken to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, where ineligibility would result in a loss of federal funds to the state. Its provisions are similar to those of the Regents' Resolution SP-2. Proposition 209 became effective in November 1997.
• University policy prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or status as a Vietnam-era veteran or special disabled veteran. Consistent with its status as a state and Federal contractor, the University undertakes affirmative action for underutilized minorities and women, for persons with disabilities, and for Vietnam-era and special disabled veterans.
• University procedure requires that for each employee having responsibility for meeting established objectives in equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, the performance appraisal shall include an evaluation of the employee's good faith efforts in these areas.
• Collective bargaining agreements between the University and exclusive representatives prohibit discrimination.

Notice of Availability:

In compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, the University of California, Berkeley publishes an Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. This report includes current security policies plus crime and fire statistics for the previous three calendar years. The body of the report also contains contact information for various campus and community resources related to crime prevention and survivor assistance. A digital copy of the report can be accessed via the link below, or paper copies are available free of charge at 1 Sproul Hall.

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report

• Jeanne Clery Act
• University of California Policy - Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence

CANRA imposes an obligation to report child abuse or neglect on certain individuals and establishes procedures to report suspected child abuse or neglect or the suspected abuse of dependent adults and elders.

This applies to an employee who is considered a "mandated reporter" if their duties require:

• Contact with children * on a regular basis; or
• Direct contact and supervision of children; or
• Supervision of other mandated reporters; or
• Assumed full or intermittent responsibility for the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult

 * This could include a student worker or intern under the age of 18.

Who is not required to complete the CANRA form: 

Those not defined as a mandated reporter as outlined in this Overview of California's CANRA document

Additional resources:

This Overview of California’s CANRA document contains more information as well as the link to the form required for those identified as a mandated reporter

• Manager's Toolkit to Comply with CANRA
• People & Culture (P&C) website: Reporting Abuse Against Children or Dependent Adults and Elders and Frequently Asked Questions - Mandated Reporters