§ 251-6. Affirmative action provisions.

A. 

Affirmative action statement. The Town of Falmouth resolves to take affirmative action measures to ensure equal opportunity in the areas of hiring, promotion, transfer, recruitment, rate of compensation, training programs, and all terms and conditions of employment. Such employment actions will be on the basis of merit and without regard to race or color, sex, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military/veteran status, national origin or ancestry, genetic information, or age.

B. 

Roles/responsibilities. To ensure that equal employment opportunity and affirmative action are achieved through good faith efforts, the Town has established various levels of responsibility to both direct, oversee and implement affirmative action efforts.

(1) 

The Board of Selectmen shall be responsible for the adoption of the affirmative action policy. To ensure that the Town's personnel policies and practices incorporate our objectives, the Board of Selectmen delegates administrative responsibilities for the policy to the EEO/AA Officer.

(2) 

The EEO/AA Officer is responsible for establishing, implementing and monitoring affirmative action efforts and for providing training. The EEO/AA Officer has the responsibility to ensure that equal employment and affirmative action receive a sufficient level of attention and management support. The EEO/AA Officer will provide summaries and updates on relevant issues as well as statistics regarding promotion and hiring.

(3) 

The Affirmative Action Committee is an advisory committee that is also appointed by the Board of Selectmen and is responsible for reviewing the Affirmative Action Policy and relevant programs. Policy is set by the Affirmative Action Committee on a yearly basis in the month of July and is submitted to the Board of Selectmen for its approval. Policy will contain areas in which the Town can improve and goals for the Committee to accomplish over the next year.

(4) 

Managers are responsible for making sure that their employment practices comply with principles in this policy and relevant state and federal equal employment opportunity regulations.

(5) 

Employees are responsible for bringing to the attention of the EEO/AA Officer any decision that conflicts with the spirit of the law.

C. 

Implementation of Affirmative Action Policy. The Town will implement its affirmative action efforts by ensuring that all employment decisions are on the basis of merit without regard to race or color, sex, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military/veteran status, national origin or ancestry, genetic information, or age as outlined below:

(1) 

Recruitment: will be on the basis of qualifications. All employment advertisement and job postings shall identify the Town as an "Equal Opportunity Employer." When advertisements are placed in the news media and on the Internet, there shall be an effort to include advertisements that serve minority populations. The EEO/AA Officer will act as a liaison with employment sources and organizations serving protected groups.

(2) 

Promotion: will be based on ability and length of service or, where applicable, subject to and in conjunction with collective bargaining procedures.

(3) 

Compensation and benefits: The Town will pay all personnel fairly according to their job classification. The Town-supported benefit program shall be made equally available to any regular-status employee who works at least 20 hours per week.

D. 

Dissemination of policy.

(1) 

All prospective employees applying for positions will be advised that the Town is an equal opportunity employer.

(2) 

Copies of the policy will be available in the Personnel Office for any employee to read, in addition to annual dissemination of policy.

(3) 

The EEO/AA Officer will be responsible for the posting of information regarding equal employment opportunity and of nondiscrimination laws in places where policy and related materials are available to all employees and prospective employees.

(4) 

The EEO/AA Officer will act as a liaison with employment sources and organizations serving protected groups.