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Diversity
Affirmative Action
Discrimination and Harassment
More Information
Diversity
Q. What is diversity?
A. Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the unique beliefs, values, skills, attributes, and characteristics of all employees in an environment that promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement.
Q. Isn't diversity another version of Equal Employment Opportunity?
A. No. Equal Employment Opportunity refers to a variety of federal laws that prohibit discrimination in employment practices on the basis of national origin, race, religion, gender, physical ability and age. Equal Employment Opportunity is sometimes seen as problem-focused while diversity is more opportunity-focused. Diversity focuses on developing an organizational culture that values the contributions of a heterogeneous workforce in which employees truly believe that their contributions are valued.
Q. Why should I be concerned with diversity issues?
A. When employees have problems relating to each other because of their differences, morale declines and productivity suffers. These problems can affect everyone in the workplace, including patients at the medical centers and students.
Q. How does diversity help the University achieve its goals?
A. Recognizing and appreciating diverse perspectives in the workplace leads to more flexibility, more productivity, more creative problem-solving, better decision-making, and an enhanced ability to meet the needs of a multi-faceted employee, student, and patient population.
Affirmative Action
Q. What is the difference between affirmative action and diversity?
A. Affirmative action refers to several federal laws that require Federal contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action to ensure that all individuals have an equal opportunity for employment, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or status as a covered veteran (Vietnam era veteran, recently separated veteran, special disabled veteran, or any other veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized).
Diversity, on the other hand, refers to the broader University community value of appreciating the contributions of all employees. Managing diversity enables the University to reap the optimum benefit from its diverse workforce. Affirmative action assures that there is diversity to manage.
Q. For whom is affirmative action undertaken?
A. Affirmative action is undertaken for minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans (special disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, Vietnam era veterans, and any other veterans who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized).
Q. Exactly what is an affirmative action program?
A. A central premise underlying affirmative action is that, absent discrimination, over time an employer's workforce, generally, will reflect the gender, racial, and ethnic profile of the labor pools from which the employer recruits and selects employees. An affirmative action program is a management tool designed to ensure equal employment opportunity, and includes those policies, practices, and procedures that employers, including the University, implement to ensure that all qualified applicants and employees are receiving an equal opportunity for recruitment, selection, advancement, training, development, and every other term, condition, and privilege of employment.
Q. Generally, what does the University's affirmative action program consist of?
A. The University's affirmative action program consists of:
- Annual quantitative analyses designed to evaluate the composition of the University workforce and compare it to the composition of the relevant external labor pools.
- Action-oriented programs with specific practical steps to address the underutilization of minorities and women (if women and minorities are not being employed at a rate to be expected given their availability in the relevant external labor pools).
- Internal auditing and reporting systems to measure the University's progress in hiring minorities and women.
- Mechanisms to monitor the University's employment decisions in order to evaluate the impact of those decisions on minorities and women.
Q. Are quotas a part of the University's affirmative action program?
A. No, quotas are not a part of the University's affirmative action program. However, under federal regulations, UC is required to establish placement goals for hiring women and minorities in those jobs or job groups where the percentage of minorities and women employed in the UC workforce is less than would be reasonably expected given their availability.
Q. Placement goals sound like quotas. How are they different?
A. Placement goals are reasonably attainable objectives or targets that are used to measure progress toward achieving equal employment opportunity for women and minorities. Quotas, on the other hand, place an enforceable minimum or floor on the employment of minorities and women in a specific job group.
Q. Who benefits from the University's affirmative action policies and programs?
A. All employees benefit from the University's affirmative action policies and programs as they help to ensure a fair work environment for everyone.
Discrimination and Harassment
Q. What is employment discrimination?
A. Discrimination occurs when an employee is treated less favorably with regard to the terms and conditions of his or her employment because the employee possesses, or is perceived to possess, an attribute belonging to a particular group or category of people. Discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or status as a covered veteran is unlawful.
Q. What should I do if I believe that I am the subject of unlawful employment discrimination?
A. You should contact your local Academic or Staff Affirmative Action Officer for assistance.
Q. How is harassment related to discrimination?
A. Harassment is a form of discrimination and may be defined as unwelcome conduct that has the purpose or effect of creating a hostile or intimidating environment that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the working conditions of a reasonable person.
Q. What is sexual harassment?
A. Sexual harassment consists of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects a person's employment or education, unreasonably interferes with a person's work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. It is a form of gender discrimination and violates both federal and State law.
Q. What constitutes a hostile work environment?
A. A hostile work environment may exist when verbal or nonverbal behavior in the workplace:
- focuses on the sexuality of another person or occurs because of the person's gender;
- is unwanted or unwelcome; and is severe or pervasive enough to affect the employee's work environment.
Examples of this type of harassment include but are not limited to off-color jokes or teasing. derogatory comments of a sexual nature, sexual innuendoes, inappropriate touching, sexual assault/rape, staring, leering, facial expressions of a sexual nature, or posters, cartoons, drawings, or pictures of a sexual nature.
Q. What should I do if I feel that I am being sexually harassed?
A. If you believe you have been sexually harassed, you may contact a manager or supervisor, your local Title IX coordinator, affirmative action officer, or Human Resources or Academic Personnel office for information about and assistance with informal and formal options for resolving your complaint.
Complaints of sexual harassment also may be filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) or with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). You can contact the nearest DFEH or EEOC office for further information.
More Information
Q. Where can I find the University's affirmative action, nondiscrimination, and sexual harassment policies?
A. These policies can be accessed on At Your Service at:
Academic Personnel
APM 035, Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment
http://www.ucop.edu/acadadv/acadpers/apm/apm-035.pdf
Staff Personnel
PPSM 12, Nondiscrimination in Employment
http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies/staff_policies/spp12.html
PPSM 14, Affirmative Action
http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies/staff_policies/spp14.html
Academic and Staff Personnel
University of California Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action Policy Regarding Academic and Staff Employment
http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/coordrev/policy/6-21-02policy.pdf
Q. Who can be contacted for more information about these policies?
A. For information about academic personnel, contact your local Academic Affirmative Action Officer, or the universitywide academic affirmative action administrator:
Sheila O'Rourke
Executive Director—Academic Advancement
(510) 987-9499
E-mail: Sheila.ORourke@ucop.edu
For information about staff personnel, contact your local Staff Affirmative Action Officer, or the universitywide staff affirmative action administrator:
Joseph Epperson
Director—Diversity & Employee Programs
(510) 987-0606
E-mail: Joseph.Epperson@ucop.edu
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