Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 220 - Department of Administration › Chapter 80 - Diversity, Equity and Opportunity › Subchapter 05 - Equal Opportunity › Part 3 - Rules and Regulations Relating to Equal Employment Opportunity (220-RICR-80-05-3) › Section 220-RICR-80-05-3.3 - General Provisions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. This act does
				 not guarantee employment of minorities, but it provides the appointing
				 authority with the increased opportunity to originally or promotionally appoint
				 qualified minorities from an eligibility list. Original appointment is defined
				 as the process applicable to initial entrance into state service. Promotional
				 appointment is defined as the process applicable to the upward mobility
				 opportunity for existing state employees. A minority is currently defined in
				 federal employment law as Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, Asian,
				 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native,
				 and Two or More Races. R.I. Gen. Laws §
										36-4-26.1 affords the opportunity for the authorization of a supplemental certification
				 process whenever there exists a "manifest imbalance" in a particular job
				 category. "Manifest imbalance" is defined - meaning there is an
				 underrepresentation of minorities based on a demographic analysis.
B. The State Equal Opportunity Administrator
				 shall serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the State Equal Opportunity
				 Office and shall be responsible for monitoring and enforcing all equal
				 opportunity laws, programs and policies within State government.
C. No later than July 1st each department or
				 agency, excluding the legislative branch of state government, shall annually
				 submit to the State Equal Opportunity Office and the House Fiscal Advisor
				 sufficient data to enable the State Equal Opportunity Office and the House
				 Fiscal Advisor to determine whether the agency achieved the hiring goals
				 contained in its affirmative action plan for the previous year. If the hiring
				 goals contained in the previous year's plan were not met, the agency shall also
				 submit with such data a detailed explanation as to why the goals were not
				 achieved.
D. The State Equal
				 Opportunity Administrator will initiate a complaint against any agency
				 excluding the legislative branch, who fails to comply with the provisions set
				 forth in §
										3.2     of this Part. Whenever
				 the Equal Employment Opportunity Administrator initiates such a complaint, he
				 or she shall cause to be issued and served in the name of the Equal Opportunity
				 Office, a written notice, together with a copy of such complaint, requiring
				 that the agency, administrator, agent or employee respond thereto and appear at
				 a hearing at a time and place specified in such notice. The Equal Opportunity
				 Office shall follow its lawfully adopted rules and regulations concerning
				 hearings of discrimination complaints.
E. A final order of the Equal Opportunity
				 Office shall constitute an "order" within the meaning of R.I. Gen. Laws §
										42-35-1(13) 
				 shall be enforceable as such; shall be rendered in accordance with R.I. Gen.
				 Law §42-35-12 and
				 shall be subject to judicial review in accordance with R.I. Gen. Law §42-35-15.
F. Pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws §
										28-5.1-5(2),
				 the Office of Personnel Administration shall take positive steps to insure that
				 the entire examination and testing process, including the development of job
				 specifications and employment qualifications, is free from either conscious or
				 inadvertent bias and shall review all recruitment or promotional procedures for
				 all State agencies covered by this chapter for compliance with federal and
				 state law, and bring to the attention of the Equal Opportunity Administrator
				 matters of concern to its jurisdiction.
G. The Personnel Administrator may use open
				 continuous competitive tests to establish lists and fill vacancies where there
				 is a manifest imbalance of minorities in the job category.
H. A minority in eligible for a promotional
				 examination if they are currently employed in state service as of the official
				 closing date of the examination announcement or twenty-one calendar days prior
				 to the first phase of the examination, whichever is later, and is a qualified
				 exam applicant seeking entry into a classification where there is a manifest
				 imbalance in the job category. This section shall not be applicable to the
				 Rhode Island State Police or the legislative branch of state
				 government.
I. Pursuant to R.I.
				 Gen. Laws §
										28-5.1-5(3)(b),
				 the Office of Labor Relations shall propose in negotiations the inclusion of
				 affirmative action language suitable to the need for attaining and maintaining
				 a diverse workforce.
J. Pursuant to
				 R.I. Gen. Laws §
										28-5.1-5(3)(c),
				 there is hereby created a six (6) member committee which shall monitor
				 negotiations with all collective bargaining units within State government
				 specifically for equal opportunity and affirmative action interests. The
				 members of that committee shall include the Director of the Rhode Island
				 Commission for Human Rights, the Associate Director of the Office of Diversity,
				 Equity and Opportunity, the Equal Opportunity Administrator, the Personnel
				 Administrator, one (1) member of the House of Representatives appointed by the
				 Speaker, and one (1) member of the Senate appointed by the Senate Majority
				 Leader. The initial meeting shall be called by the Equal Opportunity
				 Administrator. The committee shall elect a chairperson who shall preside over
				 said committee.
K. The Appointing
				 Authority, along with the certification of the Equal Opportunity Administrator
				 and the Personnel Administrator, shall determine job categories for which there
				 exists a "manifest imbalance". These job categories are defined in the Agency
				 Affirmative Action Plan and identified with the proper job category code in the
				 Official State Classified and Unclassified Pay Plan.
L. At least seven (7) days prior to
				 certifying names under this Section, the Appointing Authority shall post a
				 notice of intention to do so in the offices of the Personnel Administrator and
				 of the Equal Opportunity Administrator and shall mail a copy of such notice to
				 the applicable union, if any, with instructions to post copies of such notices
				 at all locations where persons whose names may be certified under the provision
				 of this Section may, if employed, be assigned.
M. Supplemental Certification in the civil
				 service is created to eliminate the overall adverse impact of systemic barriers
				 to the employment of minorities as a protected class, and the office of
				 Personnel Administration shall provide all appointing authorities the necessary
				 flexibility to remedy the effects of systemic discriminatory
				 practices.
N. A supplemental
				 Certification List of minorities may be called for in addition to the
				 appropriate employment or promotion list, except in the following instances:
1. The absence of statistical data or
				 reasonable evidence to show significant past discrimination or patterns of
				 possible discrimination and/or adverse impact on the protected
				 classes;
2. The presence of at
				 least one minority ranked among the three persons standing highest on the list
				 of persons certified by the Personnel Administrator for the position in
				 question;
3. The absence of any
				 minorities on the appropriate eligibility list; or
4. Any instance in which the department or
				 agency is subject to a contradictory or inconsistent court order.