identifying race

System · June 2003

EEO1 time is coming up. I used to be the recruit and hire person for the one location and assist with the other location. I have since handed over those reins to Dept. Mgrs.
Th trouble is now I can't identify people's race to comply with eeoc. I know I cant't ask the employees directly but can I ask the manager?
This question makes me very uncomfortable, anybody got a simple solution?
Thanks

skyrocket · June 2003

I believe that you can rely on a visual assessment from each department manager.

In California, we are required to provide an Applicant Identity Form to all job applicants (for voluntary completion ONLY plastered all over the form). This form is never attached to the application. If hired, such form is moved to an active employee category (again, never identifiable but retained for EEO-1 purposes). I believe other states permit a similar "inquiry" - again only voluntary. Using this form would enable you to have a more accurate assessment.

Parabeagle · June 2003

I, too, rely on mgr's visual assessment (we have 8 locations in four states).

Thanks for reminding me EEO-1 time is coming up again.

ray a · June 2003

We have all new hires fill out a Status Sheet their first day during orientation. Besides basic info such as address, phone number, emergency contact we ask them to identify their race using one of the EEO catagories.

FrayWitzer · June 2003

Hi Ray --

Not that you asked (and with the whole caveat about the value of free advice), but I always recommend to my clients that they NOT include this type of information on a general information form or, indeed, any form that stays in an employee's personnel file. It is WAY too easy for a disgruntled former employee to point to the existence of this form in their file as evidence in support of their discrimination claim...

Evan

ray a · June 2003

Evan,

You make a good point, and it is too bad we have to go to extremes to avoid frivolous litigation. But, let me ask you this. Since we must classify all our employees on our annual AAP, how would you suggest we do it accurately and consistently from year to year? We do enter the race information from this status sheet into our personnel data base and use that generate the AAP report. If we didn't ask employees, then we would have to guess and in some cases would guess wrong. We had a single female employee (she was divorced) surnamed Sanchez I would "guess" to be Hispanic, but she was Russian. Guessing could lead to inaccurate reporting. If you underreport minorities you could be setting yourself up for a needless audit by the state EEO commission. If you overreport, you could be accused of filing false information if audited. And usually ignorance is not an accepted excuse.

BTW, any unsolicited advice is welcome.

cthr · June 2003

We use a voluntary form and that is kept in a file seperate from the personnel file. It does not have the employees name. They fill it out or not on their first day. If they don't fill it out we guess. If you photocopy the ID that the employee uses for the I9, you might be able to tell from the picture, if you don't actually meet the person.

FrayWitzer · June 2003

Hi Ray --

I think this answer is suggested in other responses posted here, but just to be clear, I think that it is OK for you to ask (for the purposes that we are discussing), but that the form should be kept separately from the employee's file. There are probably many forms that you already keep separate from the employee's file for similar reasons, such as forms that contain health information. I know that having to take steps to avoid frivolous litigation is painful, but it tends to be a lot more painful to end up having to pay someone like me to defend against that litigation!

Evan

Tony Kessler · June 2003

If anyone needs general info on EEO-1 forms, Audra K. Hamilton, one of the editors of Oklahoma Employment Law Letter, has written a nice overview. To read the version that appeared in HR Hero Line, our free weekly e-zine, go to the "search" function to the bottom left of this screen and type in "EEO-1." The very first link will take you to Audra's article. If you want to sign up for HR Hero Line, that's easy, too. The link is top left, under "Employment Law News & Advice." Hope this helps. tk

Tony Kessler, director of editorial
M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
(615) 661-0249 ext. 8068

scottorr · June 2003

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It is okay to ask current ee, however it is not okay require a response. Every year we would send out a statement to our ees which contained personal information such as address, ss# etc. and one of the areas ees could fill out was race. We always made the form optional and explained why we were looking for this information. We had about a 90% response. However I would not ask applicants at all. We would only ask after they were hired. The EEOC did not have a problem with our asking after the fact.

Caroliso · June 2003

Doesn't the EEOC require tracking of race and gender of applicants for the Affirmative Action Plan?

scottorr · June 2003

Affirmative Action only applies if you have a federal contract.

ray a · June 2003

Good point, I should have made earlier. We do have federal contracts requiring us to file an annual Affirmative Action Plan. If you do not have federal contracts, the AAP is not required.

Watson · June 2003

We also have federal contracts and I just completed our first ever AAP audit by the EEOC. I only received one notice of violation. They said we didn't make enough effort to identify the race of all applicants, even though we mailed to every applicant a voluntary form to allow them to self identify, anonymously of course. We never had a single applicant return the form. I still don't understand how the EEOC expects you to identify race when you can't force applicants to identify. They said we were permitted to make visual identification of race for our plan purposes. I've instructed all interviewers to go ahead and identify race. It's all very frustrating. I wouldn't have minded getting a violation for something we honestly did wrong, but to get a violation for something we did correctly and the end result was out of our control???

ray a · June 2003

Congratulations. I passed an audit this past winter. I had made a counting error on our AAP which raised a red flag. When I explained the error and supported it with documentation, they closed the case and were very decent.

When many applicants apply electronically, it is hard to determine or guess race. I usually log them as white unless there is something distinguishing that would make me think they were a minority, such as they are from southeast asia.

SMace · June 2003

We add a voluntary race form with the application at the local ESC. All jobs are posted throught the ESC. When they come to the plant they are processed by a personnel clerk not directly involved in hiring. Qualified applications arecopied and passed on to the hiring group and the race, ethnic, gender info should remain with the original application. If the employee is hired, the original application goes in their employee file and the race, ethnic, gender info should be filed with the working copy of the application with the other applications that were received during the month. Then we discard applications after they are two years old (that is the purpose of filing applications by month received).

HR in CA · June 2003

Well we were audited by the DOL in 2001. We were Federal Government Contractors. We were cited for not making an affirmative effort to collect this information from our applicants. In order to comply with AA, I devised a postcard that was sent to applicants asking them to voluntarily disclose. I designed it in such a way that he applicants name was not on the posrtion they returned. I received praise from both the auditor and the attorney assisting us through the audit. In fact the attorney took one to reproduce for her other clients.

scottorr · June 2003

Could you share a copy of the form you created? My e-mail is [email]sorr@nyiso.com[/email] or my fax is 518-356-7584. We will be signing our first federal contracts soon so I would rather start the game with one foot already on the field.

SMace · June 2003

Was the reply coded so you knew which job they applied for?

Kymm · July 2003

Could I also get a copy of the card you mailed? My e-mail is [email]kymmt@usliquids.com[/email] or my fax is (520) 796-6213. Thanks!

Zanne · July 2003

If you would share, I'd like a copy of the post card also. We currently use a form with the application and keep it separate - but I'm not wild about that idea.

A question for those who have had audits. Were they random, for reason, or do they audit all plans within a specific timeframe?

Zanne

Watson · July 2003

Our audit was done at the request of a new client. I was very surprised that they requested the audit since we only have 49 employees and the standard threshhold that triggers an audit is 50. But we do have large government contracts so I couldn't complain. The audit was extremely time consuming and nerve-racking. I am glad to finally be done with it!

identifying race

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