Agenda - Council - 04/14/1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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'1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ~O.~CASE ~ DISCUSSION ITEM PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION ON ADMiNiSTRATIVE POLICY REGARDING RECRUITMENT POLICY FOR RECLASSIFIED POSITIONS By: Joyce Pruitt Hottinger, Administrative Services Manager Background: The City has several temporary positions that Staff has inquired about reclassifying to regular s't. atus municipal positions. Also in this discussion, Staff has questioned the opportunities available to employees (both temporary and regular status) when applying for other regular positions with the City. In an effort to develop a standard and objective recruitment policy for reclassifying temporary positions to regular status positions, I am proposing City Council discuss an administrative recruitment policy. In general, the City should use caution in utilizing "word-of-mouth" recruitment procedures due · :.to their potential to have a disparate impact on a protected class. For example, in Thomas v. Washington County Sch. Bd., 915 F. 2d 922 (4t~ Cir. 1990), the school maintained a practice of posting vacancies for teachers only in schools. An Afi-ican-American applicant, who learned of the vacancy after it was filled by a white applicant who was the spouse of a teacher in the district, brought a Title VI suit seeking injunctive relief under disparate impact theory. The court held that the "word-of-mouth" hiring practices used by the district disproportionately excluded the hiring of minority employees, and granted injunctive relief. It is generally advisable that if a work force, or even a segment of a work force, is dominated by a particular class an employer should avoid "word-of-mouth" recruiting as it can perpetuate the existing composition of the workforce. With that consideration, I am proposing Council consider an administrative policy, with a fairly conservative approach. If a temporary position is to be reclassified to regular status, the recruitment policy will be as follows: · If a formal "open" process has been conducted to hire an employee for a temporary position, and the temporary employee is the most desirable person for the newly classified regular- status position, then it may be reasonable to promote the temporary employee to the regular status position. · In the case where a temporary }mployee was acquired through a "closed" selection process, the newly reclassified position would be subject to an external/"open" recruitment process. Another issue which has been raised includes an option to post job vacancies internally to provide existing employees (both temporary and regular status) a "first" opportunity to post for a position. Some other cities do provide an internal posting when they are