Equal Opportunity Department

SIG Member: Alli Emge

This fellowship is especially friendly to underclassmen applicants.

What this office does: The Equal Opportunity Department (EOD) is responsible for County compliance with a myriad of Civil Rights laws including but not limited to Title VII, the FEHA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  EOD responsibilities include coordinating the County’s Equal Opportunity Program and implementing County Policies against Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation.

• Under the EOD umbrella, the County provides training for Sexual Harassment Prevention; Diversity and Reasonable Accommodation.
• EOD provides staff guidance and assistance in the area of equal opportunity and civil rights through awareness training, including recent legislation requiring Anti-Bullying training.
• EOD conducts independent investigations, and responds to charges from outside enforcement agencies. Additionally, EOD develops and implements the County’s Equal Opportunity Plans every two years and develops and monitors the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program.

Why your work matters: Due to limited resources, the majority of EOD’s work revolves around complying with the above requirements. This creates a situation in which our office is reactive rather than proactive in identifying or preventing inequities/discrimination/harassment.  Below are four possible projects and it may be possible, using the assistance of an intern, to complete one or more of these projects during the allotted time.  EOD would work with the County Exec’s office in identifying the County’s priority.

Potential Projects:

• Is there an alternative method for resolution of EO complaints? A Fellow to the Equal Opportunity Department would assist in researching other similar programs and develop a policy outline for the program. Other areas of assistance would include identifying the implementation of measurements to determine if the program is beneficial to the County.
• Is there a positive correlation between training and EO/RA complaints? The fellow would cross-reference analysis of training and complaint records.
• Is the County workforce employee adequately diverse? Fellow would analyze, research and write a position paper on whether the County should expand its current geographic workforce pool and help identify target recruitment needed to create a more diverse workforce.
• Is there pay inequity within the County of Santa Clara workforce? EOD believes the fellow could assist in the research and analysis.