Governor S Council on Equal Employment Opportunity

STATE OF DELAWARE GOVERNOR’S COUNCIL ON EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

HASLET ARMORY TELEPHONE: (302) 739-4195 122 WILLIAM PENN STREET FAX: (302) 739-3000

MEETING MINUTES

MEETING DATE AND TIME: Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 9:30 a.m.

PLACE: Haslet Armory Building, Second Floor Conference Room 219 William Penn Street, Dover, Delaware 19901

MINUTES APPROVED: Approved

MEMBERS PRESENT: Terry Yancey-Bragg, Ed.D. Council Member Peter Schott, Council Member Wallace Dixon, Council Member Gail Launay, Council Member Bernice Edwards, Council Member Cynthia Fairwell, Advisory on Disability Deborah Gottschalk, Council Member Linda McCloskey, Ex-Officio Member

MEMBERS ABSENT: James Collins, Council Chairman Jim Welch, Council Member

STAFF PRESENT: Romona Fullman (via phone) Sandy Reyes, Council Staff Denise Robbins, Council Staff Jill Cravens, Council Staff 1.0 Call to Order

In the absence of Chairman James Collins, Dr. Yancey-Bragg called the meeting to order at 9:38 a.m. The agenda was modified to defer Item 2.2: Development of Global Agency Recommendations until the August meeting. Both Cynthia Fairwell and Deborah Gottschalk arrived at 9:45 a.m. and completed a quorum.

1.1 Review and Approval of April Minutes

The Council reviewed the April 17, 2012 meeting minutes. Mrs. Launay made a motion, seconded by Mr. Dixon, to approve the minutes as presented. The motion was unanimously carried.

2.1 Draft Findings and Review Letters

Review letters for the Department of Labor, Department of Technology and Information, Delaware Health and Social Services, and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control were mailed on July 17, 2012. Council members were sent agency findings prior to meeting through email and were given an opportunity to make edits prior to sending to agency EEO Representatives. Minor edits to the format of the findings for several agencies were made and noted.

The Council members discussed people first language.

With no other recommendations for changes to the FY2011 Agency Feedback, Mr. Schott made a motion, seconded by Mr. Dixon, to approve the feedback with suggested changes. The motion was unanimously carried.

Ms. Fullman raised the question of whether the Council provides any specific direction or corrective action once agencies receive the recommendations. There was a discussion around matching agencies doing well with others who are not doing well with parity. Council members discussed whether the Council should ask agencies to submit a plan of action so model practices could be obtained and shared with other agencies. Dr. Yancey-Bragg stated we should discuss developing directives that are constructive and requesting feedback at the August meeting when we discuss global recommendations.

2.2 Development of Global Agency Recommendations

It was recommended we defer global recommendations and list of agencies to review for 2012 August meeting. Mr. Dixon made a motion, seconded by Ms. Edwards, to defer the aforementioned items to August meeting. The motion was unanimously carried.

Ms. Reyes asked all Council members to review the GCEEO Findings and Recommendations Booklet (2006 – 2011) and come prepared for the August meeting to discuss and to determine who should be reviewed for fall 2012. Ms. Gottschalk clarified that Council members should look at best practices from well performing agencies and compare to those agencies who aren’t performing as well when determining who to recommend for 2012 review.

2.3 Review of the Governor’s 2012 EEO Summit

Council members shared their reflections from the summit. Mr. Schott thought the Summit was much better than he anticipated. Ms. Edwards enjoyed meeting the cabinet secretaries and felt the speaker was very engaging. Ms. Launay felt this was one of the best trainings she has attended by the State and thought there was a true balance in the diversity of the people who were in attendance. Ms. Reyes reminded the Council of further offerings by Cook Ross, Inc that can be obtained on their website and mentioned the upcoming Learning Lab being held in September.

2.4 Committee Reports

 Education and Training Committee

o EEO Summit – Ms. Reyes directed each Council member to review the preliminary report, “Evaluation Results of 2012 Governor’s EEO Summit” that was emailed out prior to the meeting containing statistics on the summit and feedback compiled. It was noted that 93% of respondents rated the overall summit as very good or excellent. It was further noted that $330.50 will be reimbursed to DOS for food based on quality of food and customer service.

o ADA Training – Ms. Reyes has been organizing a half day ADA training to be held on September 19th, registration beginning at 8:30 and session to start at 9:00 a.m. Mrs. Vessells from the Disability and Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) will begin with an overview of the ADA Amendments and reasonable accommodation process for the first two hours. Delaware Assistive Technology Initiative (DATI) will demonstrate the newest assistive technology. HCR 29 passed in January and urged agencies to develop strategies pertaining to employment of individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Agencies have been requested to develop and include strategies; Robert Doyle from DVI will present information on topic at the September 19 event. HR managers and EEO Representatives are invited to participate and have been sent a “save the date”. Council members were invited to attend.

 Website & Communication Committee: Ms. Robbins met with the GIC to update the common “look and feel” and is waiting for the changes to be published online. The website should be ready for review at the August meeting. The following enhancements have been requested: addition of What’s Happening, Make an Inquiry and Services for Managers & EEO Officials links. The idea of having a blog has also been discussed but needs further consideration.

 Report Writing Committee: the committee met on June 19th and the following changes to the template and annual reporting requirements were discussed.

o Sections I through IV no changes made.

o Section V requests parity status for current and last two fiscal years. Charts were added that must be populated using the terms “parity” or “under-represented”.

o Section VI requires addressing future plans for hiring people with disabilities to include urging plans for the blind and visually impaired. In addition, it requires providing strategies to encourage greater participation rate for completion of exit surveys. o The following charts have been updated to include prior fiscal year data: new hire, promotions, discipline, separations and complaints. This will allow the Council to review percent increase or decrease in a more contextual format.

o Defined training to be reported and clarified request for employees attending training rather than number of training opportunities.

o Defined new hires, promotions and separations using PHRST action/reasons for the purpose of running the Personnel Action report.

o Tuition reimbursement chart updated to include the race, sex and number of employees who received reimbursement rather than the number of requests and total cost.

o Added language to request strategies for hiring the blind and visually impaired.

Ms. Fairwell recommended using “people first” language when requesting updates on HCR 29 and further recommends that it include language for all people with disabilities rather than having a separate section pertaining to individuals who are blind or visually impaired which was not the intent of the legislation. The following language will be used: “recruitment strategies for hiring people with disabilities to include the blind and visually impaired individuals pursuant to HCR 29”.

A suggestion was made by Ms. Gottschalk to send the sponsors and legislators of HRC 29 a letter to make them aware of the changes we have made. Ms. Reyes stated that she has been in contact with Mr. Lloyd Schmidt to make him aware of our progress and he plans on attending a meeting in the near future.

Mr. Gottschalk made a motion, seconded by Ms. Edwards, to approve changes to the template and annual report requirements. The motion was unanimously carried.

 Census Data – Ms. Reyes obtained information through the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) Conference in June on the 2010 data which will not be available until any earlier than fall 2012. Once the data is released there will be a timeline for implementation. The method for obtaining census data will be changing to collection every 5 years. When the data becomes available changes will be mandated for EEO-1 first, which pertains to private sector, then EEO-4. We are anticipating changes will need to be made for example with data collection. For example, we know Hispanic will be an ethnicity category and no longer a race. As far as labor market categories, there is an indication that the coding number digits will change. It was suggested by the report writing committee that we start talking with PHRST about if there is an upgrade so that the GCEEO will be ready for changes in labor market data and categories. We have been in contact with the Department of Labor to meet with them on the census data and will present this information to the Council as soon as it’s available.

3.0 Old Business

Ms. Reyes reported on the status of the transgender guidelines which have been drafted and a workgroup was formed. Progress is still being made as the workgroup works through small issues such as restroom language. Ms. Gottschalk recommended that the language around the restroom be generic rather than based on a specific job. For example, if there was a single stall restroom this one would be used. She further agreed to reach out to the Equality Delaware as a resource and will have them contact Ms. Reyes for further input.

General comments were made about the signing of HB 319 and Ms. Gottschalk agreed to forward the video and pictures taken by DHSS at the signing. Ms. Fairwell stated the signing of the Bill really was an exciting event.

4.0 Other Business Before the Board

Ms. Edwards provided a “Save the Date” card to all Council members for the First State Community Action Agency’s Annual Dinner and Recognition Ceremony being held on November 19, 2012 at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover, Delaware. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Robert E. Johnson, President of Becker College presenting on the fight against poverty.

5.0 Public Comment

There was no public comment. 6.0 Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for August 16, 2012 at 9:30 a.m. room 219.

7.0 Adjournment

Mr. Schott made a motion, seconded by Ms. Edwards that the meeting be adjourned. The motion was unanimously carried with the adjournment at 10:53 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Denise Robbins