PURPOSE
The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) 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 DVA's Affirmative Action Program are to:
- Ensure equal opportunity at DVA.
- 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 DVA'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 ofindividuals 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 inone of the aboveprotected 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.
DVA INTERNAL COMPLAINT PROCESS
The Department of Veterans Affairs has developed and established internal complaint procedures to be utilized in the investigation of internal complaints of alleged discrimination. All DVA employees are provided with a copy of the departmental internal complaint procedures and policy statements, which outline their protections under equal opportunity laws.
DVA AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAM
DVAhas 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 our employees in all of the agency's undertakings. We also recognize the hiring difficulties experienced by the physically disabled and by many older personsand will set program goalsto achieve the fulland fair utilization of these persons in the workforce.
DVA fully supports all federal and state constitutional provisions, laws, regulations, guidelines, and executive orders thatprohibit or outlaw discrimination. In accordance withthese requirements, no personorfacility ofthis 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 andtraining programs and all employment practices conducted by, sponsored by, or with the approval of, DVA shall be open to all qualified persons.
Our policy is posted on DVA's policy bulletin boards throughout the agency and on DVA's intranet, and internet sites. Each employee has the right to review and comment upon the agency's Affirmative Action Plan. All responses should be addressed to DVA’s Equal Employment Opportunity Leadership Associate, Fabrizzio Cedeño Encalada, who has been assigned all affirmative action duties. Fabrizzio can be reached at the Department of Administrative Services, Equal Employment Opportunity Unit, 450 Columbus Boulevard, Suite 1501, Hartford, CT 06103, or at Fabrizzio.Cedeno@ct.gov. His phone number at the agency is (860) 907-7569.
COMMITMENT
DVA will use viable affirmative action measures in allstagesof the employment processas outlined inSection 46a-68-87of the Regulations of Co1mecticut State Agencies and in the DVA Affirmative Action Plan and will provide services and programs in a fair and impartial manner.
As Commissioner of DVA, I readily assume the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the success of our AffirmativeAction programs and goals, within the timetablesstated in ourPlan, and stress that the effectiveness of our programs will depend on the complete cooperation of all administrative and superviso1y 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 toreview thispolicy and be familiar with it.More importantly, however, each employee should commit him/herself to itsideals and objectives as I have done.