Office of Employee Relations & Compliance

1.0 San Diego State University shall maintain and promote a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, pregnancy, medical condition, and covered veteran status. This policy incorporates by reference the requirements of Federal Executive Orders 11246 and 11375 as amended; Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended; Title IX of the Educational Act of 1972; the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, secs. 503-504; the Americans with Disabilities Act; the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, sec. 402; Equal Pay Act of 1963 as amended; Age Discrimination Acts of 1967 and 1978; and other applicable federal statutes as well as pertinent laws, regulations, and executive directives of the State of California, including regulatory procedures set forth in Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations. Persons covered by these regulations shall be considered members of protected groups.

2.0 The Affirmative Action Program, in compliance with federal and CSU Executive Order 883, shall be revised annually by the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance and shall be available in the offices of Deans, Vice Presidents, and the University Library. The Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity policy shall apply at every level of decisions affecting faculty, staff, administration, and students who are employed by the university. It shall be subject to modification based upon experience and continuing interpretation of the laws of the United States and the State of California and of the policies of The California State University and San Diego State University; but it shall state the university’s commitment to the right of persons to equal employment opportunities without discrimination. The university as an employer shall ensure that employees are recruited, hired, placed, upgraded, promoted, awarded tenure, or terminated for job-related reasons and without prohibited discrimination.

3.0 Specific Objectives

3.1 To ensure equal employment opportunity for every applicant and employee, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, pregnancy, medical condition, or covered veteran status;

3.2 To determine the appropriate talent and labor pools for each hiring unit for monitoring of placement actions and to ensure that each unit is provided this information at the initiation of a search;

3.3 To assist every unit and department in reviewing and modifying its own practices to ensure fair personnel decisions that are objective, consistent with known requirements, and based on work-related rationale;

3.4 To ensure that the university works conscientiously to seek applications for employment from the widest possible spectrum of available and qualified persons;

3.5 To ensure that stated requirements for positions are essential to the effective performance of the duties of those positions;

3.6 To encourage and assist employees in the professional and technical activities that qualify them for promotions;

3.7 To ensure that employees have equal access to information that allows them to take advantage of opportunities for advancement;

3.8 To ensure that the work environment for faculty, staff, and students is free from both prohibited discrimination and sexual harassment.

4.0 Education and Awareness

4.1 The Office of Employee Relations and Compliance and the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities shall educate employees and students about their rights to be free from prohibited discrimination and sexual harassment and about their obligations to refrain from prohibited discrimination and sexual harassment.

4.2 When San Diego State University employees are featured in publications, the representative diversity of our employees should be pictured.

4.3 Advertisements for position vacancies shall include the statement, “San Diego State University is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against persons on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression, marital status, age, disability, pregnancy, medical condition, or covered veteran status.”

4.4 The policy shall be published in staff and faculty handbooks, in the University Policy File, and in the University General Catalog, the Bulletin of the Graduate Division, and the IVC Bulletin.

4.5 The policy shall be distributed to supervisors, and discussions of responsibilities for effective implementation shall be held during management, supervisory, and employee meetings.

4.6 An equal opportunity clause shall be included in purchase orders, leases, and contracts

5.0 Office of Employee Relations and Compliance

5.1 The Director of the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance shall coordinate the development and implementation of nondiscrimination and nonharassment policies and procedures and shall act as liaison to auxiliary organizations in these matters. The Director shall report to the Associate Vice President for Administration, Division of Business and Financial Affairs. The responsibilities of the Director shall include:

5.11 To provide leadership to achieve a positive, continuing, and vigorous nondiscrimination and a harassment-free campus that values and celebrates its diversity;

5.12 To review faculty and staff personnel policies, practices, and procedures and monitoring appointments to assure consistency with CSU policy and federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to nondiscrimination and to equitable employment decisions;

5.13 To assist faculty and staff in understanding nondiscrimination and sexual harassment and to help ensure compliance with legal and Trustee policy requirements;

5.14 To direct the preparation of statistical reports and analyses, including an annual review of hiring, tenure, and promotion actions;

5.15 To establish and maintain contact with community groups and organizations that can assist the campus in achieving and supporting campus diversity by linking it to the diversity of the county, state, and nation; and

5.16 To oversee the investigation and report of findings of fact on discrimination and sexual harassment complaints brought by employees or students who are employees and to coordinate with the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities in matters of discrimination and sexual harassment against students.

5.2 Two Equal Opportunity Counselors from each college, the Imperial Valley Campus, the Library, Business and Financial Affairs, and University Advancement shall be recommended to the Director of the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance by the administrative heads of these units. Nominees for these positions shall be from among tenured faculty and permanent staff.

5.21 The Equal Opportunity Counselors (a) shall serve as liaison between the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance and the members of the units, (b) shall offer informal advice and counseling to their peers regarding diversity and discrimination, and (c) shall direct concerned students and employees to the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance or to the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities.

5.22 The Office of Employee Relations and Compliance shall hold regular meetings of the Equal Opportunity Counselors to respond to their concerns and to inform them of recent developments in policy and law.

6.0 Implementation

6.1 Recruitment, Appointment, and Development

6.11 No offers of appointment shall be made to any candidate until appropriate steps have been taken to advertise to and reach out to the widest possible pool of talent in the discipline or field for as long and in as many ways as feasible. The processes leading to appointment shall be objective, fair, and rational to ensure genuinely equal opportunity for qualified persons.

6.12 Vacancies shall be advertised locally, regionally, and nationally as appropriate. Such advertisements shall be placed strategically, for sufficient time, and on World Wide Web to attract maximum attention from the widest spectrum of applicants.

6.13 Standards and criteria for employment shall be clearly stated and relevant to job requirements and shall be accessible to employees and applicants.

6.14 Selection panels, rather than individual interviewers, should be used whenever possible. Search committees and selection panels should be as diverse as possible, including gender.

6.15 Specific steps shall be taken to provide guidance and assistance to employees in meeting the criteria for reappointment, tenure, permanent status, and promotion.

6.2 Conditions of Work

6.21 There shall be no discrimination in terms and conditions of employment including work assignments, classification, educational and training opportunities, benefits, research opportunities, use of facilities, and opportunities to serve on committees or decision-making bodies.

6.22 Harassment of any employee on account of race, religion, color, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, pregnancy, medical condition, or covered veteran status shall not be tolerated.

6.23 Sexual harassment shall not be tolerated. Sexual harassment shall include such behavior as sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature directed toward an employee, student, or applicant as described in CSU Executive Order 774.

6.24 Persons to be employed at San Diego State University shall be judged on their merits. Therefore, immediate family members of employees may be hired to fill vacancies.

6.241 Employees neither shall initiate nor participate in institutional decisions involving a direct benefit (initial appointment, retention, promotion, salary, leave of absence, etc.) to immediate family members nor shall participate in discussions or votes designed to rank other employees in relationship to their immediate family members for the purpose of such decisions.

6.242 For the purpose of this policy, “immediate family member” is defined as a close relative including parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, first cousin, spouse, registered domestic partner, step-parent, step-child, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and, by guardianship and/or adoption, a person residing in the immediate household. Relatives of domestic partners shall be treated as relatives of spouses.

6.25 No personnel policies or practices shall arbitrarily exclude employees or applicants for advertised positions from employment opportunities because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. A request by any permanent, female employee for a leave of absence without pay for purposes related to pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy-related conditions, or adoption shall be granted for up to one year. Additionally, a request by any employee for sick leave or leave of absence with or without pay for these purposes shall be handled in the same manner as requests for other reasons. No female employee shall be required to take a leave of absence before the anticipated delivery date so long as the employee is capable of performing her required duties.

6.26 With regard to qualified individuals with a disability or medical condition, the university shall, upon request, provide reasonable accommodation so that they may perform the essential duties of their jobs, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the university. Reasonable accommodation is to be determined by the university following its receipt of an individual’s request for accommodation and engagement in an interactive process with the individual to identify the nature and extent of the individual’s restrictions and the appropriate reasonable accommodation.

6.27 Any employee who believes that he or she has been treated in violation of nondiscrimination policy may seek redress through the discrimination complaint procedures available on the Website or at the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance. Use of this complaint procedure shall not prejudice access to formal university grievance procedures. The Office of Employee Relations and Compliance shall inform persons with discrimination complaints of other sources of redress outside the university.

6.28 Retaliation against individuals who have or are believed to have filed a discrimination complaint, opposed a discriminatory act or participated in a discrimination investigation or proceeding, is prohibited.

6.3 Layoff, Termination, and Rejection or Nonreappointment during the Probationary Period

6.31 Layoff for lack of funds or lack of work shall proceed according to campus and CSU policy developed in accordance with relevant sections of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations and of the California Education Code, and without regard to race, religion, color, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, pregnancy, medical condition, or covered veteran status.

6.32 Rejection or nonreappointment during probationary period and termination of employees shall similarly proceed in accordance with relevant policy and code and without prohibited discrimination. The reasons for such action shall be fully documented.

6.4 Documentation

6.41 The Center for Human Resources and the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance shall jointly maintain statistical records for applicants for employment and for employees of the university. These records shall include by job classification sex, race, and other such characteristics as required by law. Summaries of these data shall be available for appointments to temporary positions, new hiring, promotions, and terminations (including rejection or nonreappointment during the probationary period). These records shall be available for two years.

6.42 Departments or appropriate administrative units shall be able to provide records of the reasons for the following personnel actions: failure to appoint applicants, failure to reappoint or grant tenure to probationary faculty, failure to promote eligible faculty, and termination of tenured faculty. The Center for Human Resources shall maintain comparable information for staff. These records shall be retained for at least two years and shall be made available to the Director of the Office of Employee Relations and Compliance.