Purpose

The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) is an affirmative action employer and is committed to the policies and procedures that promote equal employment opportunity. Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity have been established as immediate and necessary agency objectives. The ultimate purposes of DAS’s Affirmative Action Program are to

• ensure equal opportunity at DAS;
• avoid discrimination – either intentional or inadvertent;
• develop a workforce that is representative of all segments of the state’s population; and
• improve the operation of DAS’s services.

Definitions

• “Affirmative Action” is a program of positive action, undertaken with conviction and effort, to overcome the present effects of past practices, policies or barriers to equal employment opportunity and to achieve the full and fair participation of women, Blacks and Hispanics and any other protected group found to be underutilized in the workforce or groups affected by past policies and practices having an adverse impact.
• “Equal Employment Opportunity” is employment of individuals without consideration of the following: race; color; religious creed; age; sex; pregnancy; sexual orientation; workplace hazards to reproductive systems, gender identity or expression; marital status; national origin; ancestry; retaliation for previously opposed discrimination or coercion, intellectual disability; genetic information; learning disability; physical disability (including, but not limited to, blindness); mental disability (past/present history thereof); status as a victim of domestic violence; status as a victim of sexual assault; status as a victim of trafficking in persons; military or veteran status; or criminal record in state employment, unless the provisions of C.G.S. §46a-80(b) or 46a-81(b) of the Connecticut General Statutes are controlling or unless there is a bona fide occupational qualification excluding persons in one of the above protected groups. Equal Employment Opportunity is the purpose and goal of Affirmative Action under §46a-68-75 through 46a-68-114 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.

DAS’s Internal Complaint Process

The Department of Administrative Services has developed and established internal complaint procedures to be utilized in the investigation of internal complaints of alleged discrimination. All DAS employees are provided with a copy of the Department’s internal complaint procedure and policy statements, which outline their protections under equal opportunity laws.

DAS’s Affirmative Action Program

DAS has created an Affirmative Action Program to overcome the present effects of any past policies, practices and barriers to equal opportunity. In our Affirmative Action Plan, we identify the achievements that have been made through the application of our good faith efforts and, through the full and fair participation of all of our employees in all of the Agency’s undertakings. We also recognize the hiring difficulties experienced by the physically disabled and by many older persons, and will set program goals to achieve the full and fair utilization of these persons in the workforce.

The Department fully supports all federal and state constitutional provisions, laws, regulations, guidelines, and executive orders that prohibit or outlaw discrimination. In accordance with these requirements, no person or facility of this Agency shall be used in the furtherance of any discriminatory practice, nor shall we become a party to any agreement, arrangement, contract or plan that has the effect of sanctioning discriminatory practices. All education and training programs and all employment practices conducted by, sponsored by, or with the approval of, DAS shall be open to all qualified persons.

Our policy is posted on DAS’s policy bulletin boards throughout the agency, on the DAS Intranet, and on DAS’s internet website. Each employee has the right to review and comment upon the agency’s Affirmative Action Plan. All responses should be addressed to Alicia Nuñez, the agency’s Administrator of the Equal Employment Opportunity Unit, who has been assigned all affirmative action duties. She can be reached at the Department of Administrative Services, Equal Employment Opportunity Unit, 450 Columbus Boulevard, Suite 1503, Hartford, CT 06103, or at alicia.nunez@ct.gov. Her phone number at the agency is (860) 816-8829.

Commitment

DAS will use viable affirmative action measures in all stages of the employment process as outlined in Section 46a-68-87 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies and in the DAS Affirmative Action Plan, and will provide services and programs in a fair and impartial manner.

As Commissioner of DAS, I readily assume the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the success of our Affirmative Action programs and goals, within the timetables stated in our Plan, and stress that the effectiveness of our programs will depend on the complete cooperation of all administrative and supervisory staff. I ask that each share in this responsibility and act accordingly.

We recognize that programs without effort are meaningless and that effort undirected by specific procedures prevents achievement. I personally pledge my support and commitment to Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity. I ask each employee to review this policy and be familiar with it. More importantly, however, each employee should commit themself to its ideals and objectives as I have done.

Michelle Gilman 

Commissioner, Department of Administrative Services 

February 27, 2026