'Alphabet Soup' spells out the dos and don'ts of University employment policies

by Jessica Howard

True or false: An employer can legally obtain and use an applicant's arrest record as the basis for non-employment.

If you answered true -- and if this were a real situation -- you may have just practiced illegal job discrimination. Unless an applicant is applying for employment at a law enforcement agency, obtaining an arrest record is illegal, although obtaining conviction information is legal if the job applied for is "security sensitive."

"Alphabet Soup: EEO/AA Training for Managers and Supervisors," helps managers and supervisors make sense of the myriad of laws -- Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Americans With Disabilities Act, for starters -- regarding employment policies and procedures. The Opportunity Development Center, which serves as the University's equal opportunity, affirmative action and disability services office, organizes the eight-hour training seminar.

"Managers need to know how to conduct business in a fair and appropriate manner and be in compliance with Vanderbilt policy as well as state and federal laws," said Pat Pierce, director of the Opportunity Development Center.

"When decisions are made without knowing all the facts or without evaluating job related issues, all too often managers find themselves confronted with a grievance."

Although Alphabet Soup is not mandatory, the information discussed could save a supervisor or manager from being the target of a formal complaint or, in extreme cases, a lawsuit.

"I really needed the course to make sure when I interview and hire that I do it in an equitable manner and legally under the law," said Billi Bean, administrative assistant for hematology and stem cell transplant and recent Alphabet Soup attendee.

The course has been offered for the past 15 years, but was titled "EEO/AA: Your Responsibilities as a Manager at Vanderbilt" until it was revised and re-named "Alphabet Soup" in 1998. Divided into two half-day sessions typically with 15 participants, the course is held 10 months out of each year. Since its 1998 revision, more than 500 people have attended.

"Alphabet Soup is one of the many proactive measures provided to Vanderbilt managers to better prepare them to meet some of the challenges they face in their job," said Pierce. "Other universities in the area have borrowed our training material to use as a model in designing their EEO training."

Participants are given a notebook with clearly defined policies, procedures and easy-to-understand examples that they can use as an office reference. The notebook also includes a section on "updates" regarding laws and useful information on everything from a list of religious holy days to details on employee protection from retaliation by a supervisor.

The most common formal complaints filed at Vanderbilt's Opportunity Development Center are race or gender discrimination and sexual harassment. Pierce said the majority of these complaints are against a supervisor who may have unintentionally violated a policy or law, often a result of poor communication and lack of appropriate documentation.

"We believe that the class provides important information about the policies, importance of documentation and the internal resources that are available to help managers make their decisions," she said.

During the class, participants play a Monopoly-styled board game -- a "charge of discrimination" is the equivalent of drawing a "go to jail" card -- called "The EEO Game: It's Your Job." The game helps participants apply the information they received about EEO laws. Pierce cautioned players that the game features many of the hazards of real-life management.

"Regardless of the intent of the action, the result for the manager may be a finding of discrimination or violation of University policy," she said.

Another exercise identifies the stereotypes that exist amongst individuals. One of the diversity exercises in the class requires participants to write down the first thing that comes to mind when they read a list of words. Words on the list included "disabled," "gays," "New Yorkers," "whites" and "managers." After each person wrote down their initial thoughts, the group discussed the common themes and the nature of their stereotypes.

"A woman once told me, 'I wasn't real happy with some of the things I wrote down, but I guess that's the point,'" said Anita Jenious, associate director for compliance at the ODC, who teaches the section on diversity.

"The exercise allows people to see how easy it is to stereotype without giving it a second thought," she said. "Once people are more conscious of that, they work towards moving beyond those stereotypes."

Cross-cultural miscommunication can be common and avoiding it requires an open mind by employers and employees alike, said Jenious. Communicating across a variety of cultures can be challenging and the Opportunity Development Center warns attendees to avoid "isms," such as racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, able-bodyism and anti-Semitism.

Another important topic discussed in the class is disability issues. Participants learn about appropriate interviewing techniques, reasonable accommodations and how the American with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act and other laws work together, said Pierce.