Yes. The statement Equal Opportunity Employer or Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer means the State of Minnesota acts in accordance with the standards set by Equal Employment, Opportunity (EEO), Affirmative Action (AA), and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) laws.
Further, this means that the State of Minnesota:
Is committed to promoting equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees, regardless of a race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, age, disability, status with regard to public assistance, and membership or activity in a local human rights organization. The State is committed to creating a work environment that is free of harassment and ensures nondiscrimination for all persons
Has procedures in place for employees and applicants who feel that they have been discriminated against and we have a reasonable accommodation process
Is proud to promote that it is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer
The MHP Form is completed when there is an underutilization for a protected group in an EEO job category. This form is also designed to be a tool to aid in the decision process to determine if an appointment is affirmative or non-affirmative; and in non-affirmative hiring, if the appointment was justified or non-justified.
Minnesota Management & Budget (MMB) is required under Minnesota law (M.S. 43A.191 Subd. 3.c.) to report to the Legislature agency appointments where there is an underutilization. The MHP Form is an internal "tool" state agencies may use to track their appointments. State agencies compile the information from the MHP Forms and forward the compiled data to MMB on a quarterly basis. In turn, MMB reports this information to the legislature on a biennial basis.
State agencies should analyze their MHP Forms over a period of time to determine if there are barriers in their selection process. For example, if in reviewing their MHP Forms, the agency notices a high number of protected group applicants are falling out of the process in one particular job classification because they do not meet the minimum qualifications, this would be a "flag" to the agency that further research is needed. After research, the agency may determine the minimum qualifications need to be changed or the agency needs to recruit differently for this position, etc. When agency hiring information is tracked and analyzed, the agency can make improvements where needed.
A missed opportunity is when an agency has an underutilization for a particular vacancy and the appointment was a non-affirmative, non-justified hire. Meaning, the appointment was not from a protected class and was not justified based on the reasons in the Monitor the Hiring Process Form.
The current EEO-4 values in SEMA4 are set up to meet the federal reporting requirements for Minnesota state government. Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) submits reports to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of Minnesota state government. Until the federal government changes the State's reporting requirements, the EEO-4 values will remain the same in SEMA4.
SEMA4 is a statewide reporting tool that all the executive branch agencies utilize. Periodically, MMB receives a request from an individual state agency to change the EEO-4 categories in the system for their agency's federal reporting requirements. Each agency's request to make changes to the EEO categories and/or protected group information to meet their federal reporting needs are a little different. Unfortunately, there is not a way to change the values in SEMA4 for only certain agencies without having all agencies use the changes.
Your agency has a couple options. The paraprofessional group is made up of job classifications in which workers often perform either professional or technician supportive duties. These duties usually require less formal training and/or expertise than normally required for professional or technical status.
Review your agency job classifications in the paraprofessional group. Determine if the job class would lean towards the office/clerical or technicians group. Move the job classifications to the appropriate job group for the underutilization analysis.
Review your agency job classifications in the paraprofessional group. Determine the percentage of paraprofessional job classifications that would fall into the office/clerical or technician group. Use that percentage for the paraprofessional group in the utilization analysis. For example: your agency determines 50% of the classes lean towards office/clerical and 50% lean towards technicians. Use 50% of the office/clerical availability and 50% of the technicians availability percentages for the paraprofessional category.
Because of the Minnesota Data Government Practices Act, an agency is not allowed to disclose the outcome to the complainant. The agency should explain this to the complainant at the time the formal complaint is made. However, the complainant can be told that:
The investigation has been completed and the findings have been provided to management
Management will review the findings and determine if any additional action is needed
At the conclusion, it is recommended the agency offer the complainant an opportunity to talk about the process. This may help to bring closure for the individual.
