A2 to reform hiring policies

The city of Ann Arbor is updating its affirmative action policies.

In 1995, the Ann Arbor City Council ordered its Human Resources Department to update its affirmative action policies. The plan had not been updated since 1969. Last night, HRD made a presentation to city council to report on its progress.

HRD Personnel Director Robert Scott said a future goal for the affirmative action plan is to revamp the procedure for hiring temporary employees. Scott said the city employs about 300 students from the various schools in the area throughout the year, most of whom work as temporary workers in the Parks and Recreation Department.

"We're making departments more accountable in their hiring practices," Scott said.

Scott said he doesn't believe discrimination is prevalent in the city's hiring practices, but said an updated affirmative action program is needed so the city can better answer to complaints.

"I do think it was time to tighten up the process so that if ever we were questioned about a selection, we could defend that selection," Scott said. "We've had very few complaints about our hiring process."

The modifications that are being implemented include the use of a less-detailed form system, a mass study of the city's hiring practices across all departments and increased education of city employees.

Some city employees expressed apprehension regarding the new paperwork. Three more detailed forms from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were previously introduced through a limited pilot program. Senior Personnel Director Sandra Rice said the forms had positive and negative aspects.

"Documenting these (hiring) procedures is essential," Rice said. The forms took a very long time to fill out, but when the new set of forms are fully implemented, it should cut down on the time, Rice said.

City council members expressed some concern over the inflexibility of the forms' treatment of multi-racial applicants.

"A lot of people consider themselves bi-racial or multi-racial. Does the EEOC have a code (on the forms) for that?" asked Council member Tobi Hanna-Davies (D-1st Ward).

Council member Elisabeth Daley (D-5th Ward) agreed that allowing for multi-racial applicants was necessary. "It will be important in the next few years as groups become less defined."

Interim HRD Director Susan Jahn said that although the forms only allowed prospective employees to claim one ethnicity, she plans to investigate measures to make them more flexible.

Part of the plan has involved hiring the survey firm Fox and Lawson to run a study of attitudes toward affirmative action in the various city departments. The study will involve many small committees from every city department and will begin work in the next few months, Jahn said. Its results are due by next September.

The city employs workers from eight unions. Scott said these unions were often the source of discrimination inquiries into the city's hiring practices. Scott said that these inquiries are often made because the he city's standards for hiring and promotion are different from the unions'.

"If you know anything about unions, seniority is big on promotions and transfers and such," Scott said. He said unions favor promoting the most senior applicant so long as the applicant is qualified. But according to the doctrine of the city, he said, "It's qualifications first, then seniority."

09-30-97