Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A) Full utilization. The following
provisions apply whenever an administrative review under paragraph (C) of this
rule finds no need for apprenticeship program modification to ensure compliance
with the equal employment opportunity (EEO) provisions of the rules in division
5101:11 of the Administrative Code, nor find any barriers to equal opportunity
for female, minority, or disabled people, and a deficiency analysis under
paragraph (D) of this rule reveals no under-utilization of female, minority,
Hispanic, or disabled people in the program.
(1) Minimum contents. The sponsor's
affirmative action plan (AAP) may be limited to describing the methods for
reviews and analyses under rule
5101:11-6-02
of the Administrative Code; the community collaboration activities under
paragraph (D) of the present rule; and the activities mandated under Chapter
5101:11-5 of the Administrative Code, for the purpose of meeting general EEO
requirements.
(2) Other activities.
As a matter of best practice, sponsors are encouraged to consider conducting
the following outreach, recruitment, and retention activities, to assist
sponsors in avoiding barriers to equal opportunity in apprenticeship.
(a) Targeted activities described in
paragraph (C) of this rule;
(b)
Exit interviews of each apprentice who leaves the sponsor's apprenticeship
program prior to receiving a certificate of completion to understand better why
the apprentice is leaving the program and to help shape the sponsor's retention
activities.
(B)
Response to an administrative review finding.
(1) When an administrative review identifies
a practice, policy, or employment decision that creates a barrier to equal
opportunity, the sponsor will revise such policies accordingly and describe the
change both in the AAP and the standards.
(2) When an administrative review identifies
an apprenticeship program modification that is needed to ensure fulfillment of
the EEO and affirmative action obligations under the rules in division 5101:11
of the Administrative Code, the sponsor is to promptly implement such
modification and describe it both in the AAP and the standards.
(3) Where a sponsor has determined pursuant
to such a review that there are problem areas with respect to its outreach,
recruitment, and retention activities for individuals with disabilities, the
sponsor will undertake targeted activities as prescribed under paragraph (C) of
this rule in response to a finding of underutilization, and will provide for
these activities in its AAP.
(C) Response to a deficiency finding.
Targeted activities. Where a deficiency analysis finds underutilization of
female, minority, and/or Hispanic individuals in apprenticeship resulting in
adoption of a utilization goal, the sponsor will undertake targeted outreach,
recruitment, and retention activities that are likely to increase participation
by the affected group(s) in apprenticeship, and to expand the opportunity of
individuals in such group(s) to become eligible for apprenticeship selection,
and improve retention of apprentices from the group(s) affected. These
activities are to include substantive working relationships with community
organizations and leaders that have an interest in serving the target
populations. In its AAP, every sponsor subject to the targeted activities
requirement, will: set forth the specific targeted outreach, recruitment, and
retention activities it plans to take for the upcoming program year; list the
community entities with which the sponsor will collaborate; and describe the
nature of this collaboration. Targeted activities are to include at a minimum:
(1) Dissemination in the following manner, of
information concerning the nature and benefits of apprenticeship, requirements
for admission to apprenticeship, availability of apprenticeship opportunities,
sources of apprenticeship applications, and the equal opportunity policy of the
sponsor.
(a) Programs that accept applications
only at specified intervals will disseminate such information at least thirty
days in advance of the earliest date for application at each interval. Programs
that adopt this strategy and that customarily take applications throughout the
year, will disseminate the information regularly, but not less than
semiannually.
(b) This information
is to be disseminated to the council office, local high schools, local
community colleges, local vocational, career and technical schools, employment
service offices, Ohio public workforce system local job centers, women's
centers, outreach programs, and community-based organizations which can
effectively reach minorities and women, and other groups serving the
underutilized group.
(c) The
sponsor is to advertise openings for apprenticeship opportunities by publishing
advertisements in
media, electronic or otherwise, which provide contact with the groups targeted
for recruitment, as well as media that reach the general public in areas where
the program sponsor operates and those that have
wide circulation in the relevant recruitment areas.
(2) Participation in annual workshops
conducted by employment service agencies for the purpose of familiarizing
school, employment service, and other appropriate personnel with the
apprenticeship system and current opportunities therein.
(3) Internal communication of the sponsor's
equal opportunity policy in such a manner as to foster understanding,
acceptance and support among the sponsor's various officers, supervisors,
employees, and members, and to encourage such persons to take the necessary
action to aid the sponsor in meeting its obligations under division 5101:11 of
the Administrative Code.
(4)
Utilization of journey workers to assist in the implementation of the sponsor's
affirmative action plan, for instance by participating in recruitment events,
EEO training, related conferences, apprentice orientation, etc.
(D) Collaboration with other
entities. Every AAP is to include the following provisions.
(1) The sponsor is to collaborate with other
organizations (for instance, community organizations and other sponsors) in
positive recruitment and preparation of female, Hispanic, and/or racial
minority applicants for apprenticeship. Where appropriate and feasible, such
initiatives will provide for pre-testing of experience and training. Wherever
possible, such activities are to include operation of a state-recognized
pre-apprenticeship program. If no such program exists in the area, the sponsor
will seek to develop one, and/or to obtain financial assistance for such
efforts. Any apprenticeship program that trains for a traditionally male
occupation, is to engage in one or more initiatives to prepare and encourage
women to enter that training.
(2)
To encourage the establishment and use of programs designed to prepare
significant numbers of female and minority individuals for apprenticeship,
through such activities as pre-apprenticeship and preparatory occupational
training, a sponsor's affirmative action is to ensure that people served by
these initiatives are afforded full and equal opportunity for admission to the
apprenticeship program.
(E) Updating plans. Sponsors are to review
their affirmative action plans annually and update them where necessary,
including the goals. In the course of this review, the sponsor will:
(1) Evaluate and document after every
selection cycle for registering apprentices the overall effectiveness of
affirmative action activities;
(2)
Refine its targeted outreach, recruitment, and retention activities as needed;
and
(3) Maintain records of its
targeted outreach, recruitment, and retention activities and records related to
its evaluation of these activities.
(F) Compliance. Compliance with the
requirements of this rule will be determined by whether a sponsor that has a
finding of under-utilization has met its goals, or failing that, whether it has
made good faith efforts to meet them. Its "good faith efforts" will be judged
by whether it is following its affirmative action plan and attempting to make
it work, including evaluation and changes in its program where necessary to
obtain the maximum effectiveness toward the attainment of its goals. In the
event of the failure of the sponsor to meet its goals, it will be given an
opportunity to demonstrate that it has made every "good faith effort" to meet
its commitments. All the actions of the sponsor will be reviewed and evaluated
in determining whether such good faith efforts have been made.
(G) Adjustment of program standards for
affirmative action. Where a sponsor, despite its good faith efforts, fails to
meet its goals within a reasonable period, the council office may direct that
specific changes be made in its affirmative action plan and/or standards,
including where appropriate, its planned selection procedure(s), in order to
obtain maximum effectiveness toward the attainment of its goals.
(H) Nondiscrimination. The commitments
contained in the sponsor's AAP are not intended, and are not to be used, to
discriminate against any qualified applicant or apprentice on the basis of
race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age over forty years, Hispanic
ethnicity, sexual orientation, genetic information, or disability. In
establishing utilization goals, the following principles apply:
(1) Utilization goals are not to be rigid and
inflexible quotas for the selection of particular groups as
apprentices.
(2) Utilization goals
will not provide a sponsor with a justification to extend a preference to any
individual, select an individual, or adversely affect an individual's status as
an apprentice, on the basis of that person's race, sex, or ethnicity.
(3) Utilization goals will not create
set-asides for specific groups, nor are they intended to directly achieve
equality of completion rates or career success among apprentices from all
demographic groups.
(4) Utilization
goals are not to be used to supersede eligibility requirements for
apprenticeship. Affirmative action plans prescribed by rules under division
5101:11 of the Administrative Code, do not require sponsors to select a person
who lacks qualifications to participate in the apprenticeship program
successfully, or select a less-qualified person in preference to a more
qualified one.
