New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 11 - LABOR AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION › Chapter 2 - JOB TRAINING › Part 2 - EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY IN APPRENTICESHIP STATE PLAN › Section 11.2.2.9 - AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLANS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A.
Definition and purpose
. As used in this part:
(1) An affirmative action program is designed
				to ensure equal opportunity and prevent discrimination in apprenticeship
				programs. An affirmative action program is more than mere passive
				nondiscrimination. Such a program requires the sponsor to take affirmative
				steps to encourage and promote equal opportunity, to create an environment free
				from discrimination, and to address any barriers to equal opportunity in
				apprenticeship. An affirmative action program is more than a paperwork
				exercise. It includes those policies, practices, and procedures, including
				self-analysis, that the sponsor implements to ensure that all qualified
				applicants and apprentices are receiving an equal opportunity for recruitment,
				selection, advancement, retention and every other term and privilege associated
				with apprenticeship. An affirmative action program should be a part of the way
				the sponsor regularly conducts its apprenticeship program.
(2) A central premise underlying affirmative
				action is that, absent discrimination, over time a sponsor's apprenticeship
				program, generally, will reflect the sex, race, ethnicity, and disability
				profile of the labor pools from which the sponsor recruits and selects.
				Consistent with this premise, affirmative action programs contain a diagnostic
				component which includes quantitative analysis designed to evaluate the
				composition of the sponsor's apprenticeship program and compare it to the
				composition of the relevant labor pools. If women, individuals with
				disabilities, or individuals from a particular minority group, for example, are
				not being admitted into apprenticeship at a rate to be expected given their
				availability in the relevant labor pool, the sponsor's affirmative action
				program must include specific, practical steps designed to address any barriers
				to equal opportunity that may be contributing to this
				underutilization.
(3) Effective
				affirmative action programs include internal auditing and reporting systems as
				a means of measuring the sponsor's progress toward achieving an apprenticeship
				program that would be expected absent discrimination.
(4) An affirmative action program also
				ensures equal opportunity in apprenticeship by incorporating the sponsor's
				commitment to equality in every aspect of the apprenticeship program.
				Therefore, as part of its affirmative action program, a sponsor must monitor
				and examine its employment practices, policies and decisions and evaluate the
				impact such practices, policies and decisions have on the recruitment,
				selection and advancement of apprentices. It must evaluate the impact of its
				employment and personnel policies on minorities, women, and persons with
				disabilities, and revise such policies accordingly where such policies or
				practices are found to create a barrier to equal opportunity.
(5) The commitments contained in an
				affirmative action program are not intended, and must not be used, to
				discriminate against any qualified applicant or apprentice on the basis of
				race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age (40 or
				older), genetic information, or disability.