[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
It is the policy of the City of Plainfield to provide equal
employment and business opportunity for all persons and to prohibit
discrimination in employment and business practices because of race,
color, religion, age, sex, ancestry, or national origin, and to promote
the full realization of equal opportunity through a positive and continuing
program within each department, division, agency of equal employment
and business opportunity. This policy shall apply to every contractor,
subcontractor or bidder holding or seeking a public contract with
the City of Plainfield. This policy is also intended to provide minority
and female business in the City of Plainfield equal opportunity to
participate in the filling of the City of Plainfield's non-bid purchase
order up to legal non-bid limit. The policy of equal employment opportunity
applies to every aspect of municipal employment policy and practices.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
The City Council of the City of Plainfield is provided the lawful
authority to execute a plan of Affirmative Action to govern municipal
employment and business practices by the authority granted it under
the following regulations:
(a) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and;
(b) Executive Order No. 11246 of 1965, and;
(c) Executive Order No. 11375 of 1972, and;
(d) New Jersey Gubernatorial Executive Order No. 21, and;
(e) Public Law 1975, Chapter 127 and rules and regulations promulgated
thereunder.
(f) The powers granted the City Council by the Municipal Code of the
City of Plainfield and enumerated in the statements contained in Article
1 above.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
For the purpose of these regulations, unless the context indicates
otherwise, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) Alert notice means a written notice by the Compliance Officer that
identifies for the contractor or subcontractor violations as expressed
by the language of this ordinance.
(b) Bidder means any party, partnership, corporation, association, or
joint venture that has submitted prescribed bid documents to the City
of Plainfield seeking award of a public contract.
(c) The City of Plainfield means The City of Plainfield Municipal Corporation.
(d) Construction contract means any contract to be performed for or on
behalf of the City of Plainfield, or any of its departments, divisions,
agencies, or units, for the construction, alteration or repair of
any building or public works. Also included the acquisition of material,
equipment, supplies, or services, or any contract for which assistance
is granted by action of the City Council including but not limited
to tax abatement, tax incentives, or low interest loans through a
federal or state program.
(e) Contractor means any party, partnership, corporation, association,
or joint venture seeking to perform a prime contract with the City
of Plainfield or any of its departments, divisions, agencies or units.
(f) Discrimination means to distinguish, differentiate or identify by
separation on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ancestry, age,
or national origin.
(g) Employee means a person engaged to perform specific tasks and is
on a bona fide payroll. This term shall exclude individuals employed
by his/her parents, spouse, or child, or in the domestic service of
any person.
(h) Minority means any Black, Spanish surnamed, Asian or Pacific Islander,
American Indian.
(i) Minority and female businesses shall mean those businesses that are
bona fide owned by or utilize the required services of minorities
or females. Said businesses shall be considered "bona fide" only if
the minority of female ownership interest and/or employment are real
and continuing and not created solely to meet the requirements of
this ordinance.
(j) Project means the geographical location where the contract or sub-contract
work is performed.
(k) Project site report means the statistical account of the minority/non-minority
man-hour utilization in the trade classifications of the contractor
and subcontractor.
(l) Subcontractor means any party, partnership, corporation, association
or joint venture that is engaged by the prime contractor to perform
under a subcontract, all or part of the work included in an original
contract.
(m) Violation notice means a written notice by the City's affirmative
action office that re-identifies for the contractor or subcontractor
those violations listed in the "alert notice" which have not been
corrected.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
There shall be and there is hereby established the position
of Affirmative Action Compliance Officer together with all personnel
deemed necessary to effectively implement the expressed intent of
this ordinance. The Compliance Officer shall be appointed under the
authority of the City Code, and shall work under the supervision of
the Deputy City Administrator in charge of the Budget and Community
Relations Division. The Affirmative Action Compliance Officer's primary
responsibilities shall include the administration of the City's Affirmative
Action Construction Compliance Program.
In so doing he/she shall function as the "project monitoring
vehicle" for the Human Relations Commission. He/she will make periodic
status reports on the work progress of all construction projects throughout
the City to the Deputy City Administrator and the Human Relations
Commission. Said reports will include details of all contractor and/or
subcontractor violations as well as other activities or conditions
that may be of importance to the City's administration. The Compliance
Officer shall have at his/her disposal the resources of the City's
departments and agencies that may be under contract with the City.
The Compliance Officer shall also be responsible for the submission
of all required reports and records to the appropriate municipal,
state, and federal agency, and ensure that all follow-up activities
are completed.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
The City of Plainfield shall make available to all contractors
and subcontractors this affirmative action ordinance and said ordinance
shall become a part of the project specifications. It shall be required
that when submitting a bid, the contractor must certify that he/she
will comply with the terms of this ordinance. Before the award of
any subcontract being let by the contractor, said contractor will
be required to submit a statement of compliance from each potential
subcontractor.
(a) If a contractor refuses to execute a certification signifying his/her
intent to comply with the full terms of this ordinance, the City shall
reject the contractors bid as non-responsive. The City shall then
submit the contract containing the required language to the next lowest
responsible bidder, and this process shall be repeated, if necessary,
until a contractor has signed a contract containing the required language.
(b) Construction subcontractors with four (4) or fewer employees shall
be exempt from said requirements.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
When hiring workers in each construction trade, the contractor
or subcontractor will make every good faith effort to meet the goal
for utilization of minority and female employees in the performance
of his/her construction contract as established by N.J.A.C. 16:27-5.2.
However, in no event shall said goals, for each project, be less than
twenty (20) percent, with the exception of the classification of laborers
where the goal shall be not less than fifty (50) percent.
(a) It shall be understood that the contractor in complying with this
ordinance, will attempt to fill his/her goal from among Plainfield
residents first. If the minority and/or female employment goals cannot
be satisfied from among Plainfield residents, the contractor or subcontractor
shall immediately contact the City's Affirmative Action Compliance
Office. The Affirmative Action Compliance Officer, in appropriate
cases, will assist the contractor and/or subcontractor in seeking
minority and female applicants from Union County and then the regional
jurisdiction if need be.
(b) The contractor, in hiring for each job, shall make every effort to
employ persons residing within the geographical jurisdiction of the
appropriate union in order to insure that minorities and females employed
on the project will be brought into the permanent construction industry's
area labor force.
(c) The contractor will submit with his/her bid, anticipated goals for
the utilization of minority and female journeymen in the trades, and
laborers specified above in the performance of contract, together
with a projected manpower utilization program. These goals are to
be expressed in terms of man-hours to be worked by minority and female
journeymen and laborers during the performance of the contract and
must be substantially uniform throughout the duration of the contract.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
It shall be the policy of the City of Plainfield that minority
and female owned businesses receive a "fair share" of all construction
projects covered under the language, terms and conditions of this
ordinance. Contractors and subcontractors designated to perform in
city projects, will to the maximum extent possible, procure, purchase,
and obtain materials, supplies and services from minorities and female
suppliers that meet the qualifying terms of this ordinance.
(a) In accordance with the terms and conditions of this ordinance the
City shall award construction contracts to the lowest responsible
bidder. In order to meet the criterion of being a "responsible bidder",
the general contractor, if any part of the contract is subcontracted,
must utilize minority or female subcontractors to the extent of no
less than twenty-five (25) percent of the total contract amount. A
bidder that does not meet this minimum level of twenty-five (25) percent
minority or female participation shall not be considered as a responsible
bidder.
(b) Within ten (10) working days after the contract is executed, the
contractor shall provide a report of responses, proposals, and bids,
including the dollar amount of goods and services purchased from minority
or female owned businesses as well as the dollar amount of goods and
services purchased from non-minority or female owned suppliers. The
report shall specify the action taken by the prime contractor in response
to the proposals or bids received from minority or female owned firms
and/or joint ventures between minority or female owned businesses.
In all cases, wherein the contractor is obligated to enter into negotiations
in "good faith". In cases where proposals or bids from minority and/or
female suppliers are rejected, such rejections shall require a written
statement from the prime contractor, justifying such rejection.
(c) The City further recognizes that in "highly specialized" craft areas
there may not be sufficient minority or female contractors or subcontractors
to participate at the level specified in this policy. In such cases,
and upon verification of its Compliance Officer, the City at its discretion
may determine not to require the provisions of this policy as a part
of the contract specification.
(d) In order to protect the financial integrity of all subcontractors,
the City, before making any payment hereinunder, may require the general
contractor to furnish releases or receipts from any or all persons
performing work and supplying materials or services, if such action
is deemed necessary to protect the City's interest.
(e) No contractor or subcontractor can be held as "being not in compliance"
if minority and/or female crafts persons are not available to fulfill
the affirmative action requirements either in the appropriate unions
or by referral. In such cases, however, the City shall consider the
contractor or subcontractor to be operating under a state of "conditional
compliance". Under such state, the contractor or subcontractor is
obligated to strive for a state of full compliance at the earliest
date possible. Failure on the part of either party to put forth "a
good faith effort" to locate minorities and/or females, and upon substantial
proof of the availability of same, the City may move to evoke the
punishment herein listed for violations of this policy.
(f) Notwithstanding the recognition of overt attempts on the part of
a contractor and/or subcontractor to disqualify a minority or female
subcontractor or supplier without substantial proof of nonqualification,
there shall be nothing implied or intended in this language to suggest
that a contractor or subcontractor would jeopardize the quality of
the work on a project by employing unqualified minorities and/or females
or purchasing inferior goods and services from minority and/or female
businesses. The City of Plainfield shall hold the contractor and/or
subcontractor solely responsible for the quality of performance on
all projects up to, and within the limits of the law.
(g) To further the intent of this ordinance and to fully comply with
N.J.S.A. 40:50-1 which requires the City to award a contract to the
lowest "responsible bidder", the responsibility of such bidder, in
addition to giving satisfactory proof of his/her ability to furnish
the requisite materials and perform the work properly, the bidder
shall give satisfactory proof of the quality of his affirmative action
plan and the City in awarding the contract shall take into consideration
not only the lowest bid and the ability of the bidder, but also the
quality of the affirmative action plan of the bidder as evidence by
past performance, documentation, and present plan.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
The contracting parties shall agree that nothing contained in
this document is intended to preclude the contractor or subcontractor
from complying with the hiring hall provisions in any applicable collective
bargaining agreement or hiring hall arrangement; except where the
practices of a union or apprenticeship program will result in the
exclusion of minority and female persons or the failure to refer minority
group persons and females consistent with the county employment goals.
(a) The contractor or subcontractor shall inform the City's Affirmative
Action Compliance Officer immediately of any activities that impedes
his/her efforts to comply with the terms and conditions of this document.
The contractor and/or subcontractor will consider for employment
minorities and females who meet the qualifications for journeymen
and/or laborers that are recommended by the City's Affirmative Action
Compliance Office. If the contractor or subcontractor fails to employ
persons referred, then he/she shall submit a written explanation of
his/her failure to employ such persons within twenty four (24) hours
of such referral to the City's Compliance Officer.
(b) A contractor or subcontractor shall not be deemed to have exercised
"good faith" under this ordinance, if he/she fails to pursue the goals
expressed in this ordinance solely because of union opposition even
if the union threatens a work stoppage because of the implementation
of the terms and conditions of this ordinance. It shall be the position
of the City of Plainfield that the contractor as the "principal employer"
is responsible for the treatment of all referrals in accordance with
the terms and conditions of this ordinance.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
Following receipt and review of the affirmative action plan
and employment information submitted by the bidder, and prior to awarding
the contract, the apparent low bidder shall be required to attend
a pre-award conference called by the appropriate department head.
At that conference the City's Compliance Officer is responsible for
certifying that the apparent low, responsible bidder has satisfied
all of the terms and conditions of this ordinance as set forth in
the articles herein contained.
(a) The contractor must submit at the time of this conference the contractor's
and subcontractor's weekly payroll records for all crafts covered
under the contract provisions. In addition, a monthly cumulative summary
of the project man-hours must be provided on a craft-by-craft basis
and identified as to minority/female or non-minority or non-female
status. No contract shall be awarded without these conditions being
met, unless the contractor and/or subcontractor submits valid reasons
for non compliance. In such cases, the City's Compliance Officer and
the appropriate department head shall set a time limit for compliance,
not to exceed five (5) days.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
The Human Relations Commission of the City of Plainfield is
designated under this policy as the "official monitoring agency" for
all construction projects falling within the jurisdiction of this
policy. The chairperson of the commission will appoint a three (3)
person committee that shall be designated as the "Construction Compliance
Committee (C.C.C.) of the Human Relations Commission". It shall be
the functions of this committee to review and monitor all construction
activities in regard to compliance throughout the municipality. The
"monitoring designee" of this committee shall be the City's Affirmative
Action Compliance Officer. The Affirmative Action Compliance Officer
will provide duplicate copies of all official project activity reports
forwarded to the Affirmative Action Officer, to the Construction Compliance
Committee for their review. If it is deemed necessary for reasons
of clarity or interpretation, or if additional data or information
on a specific project is desired, the committee may request that both
the City's Affirmative Action Officer and the Compliance Officer appear
before the full Commission.
(a)
At the discretion of the Construction Compliance Committee,
one member or the full committee may accompany the Compliance Officer
on project site visits, pre-bid conferences, and project site meetings
between construction officials, appropriate staff persons, and the
Compliance Officer.
(b)
In the event specific discriminatory practices or other irregularities
are found to exist in the administration and enforcement of this ordinance,
in addition to the sections that may be imposed as provided by terms
of the contract, it shall be the duty of the Construction Compliance
Committee, through the Compliance Officer, to forward all pertinent
information to appropriate federal, state, and county agencies, and
also to the appropriate City officials prior to submitting the same
to the aforementioned agencies.
(c)
In accordance with the requirements as stated in N.J.A.C. 17:27-7.6,
the Affirmative Action Compliance Officer shall provide forms or prescribe
forms for monthly project manning reports. Each project manning report
shall identify the estimated employment requirements, by trade or
craft, of the construction contractor and subcontractor for the duration
of the construction project work by each contractor and subcontractor.
The City's Affirmative Action Office, construction contractors and
subcontractors shall use these reports which shall be submitted by
the contractor in accordance with N.J.A.C. 17:27-7.6, to monitor compliance
with the requirements of this policy.
[MC 1981-15, § 1, September 8, 1981]
In the event a contractor or subcontractor fails to meet the
requirements of this ordinance, he/she shall be given the opportunity
to demonstrate that he/she has made every good faith effort to meet
the required commitments of this ordinance. In any proceeding in which
good faith effort is the issue, the Human Relations Commission, through
its "monitoring designee" shall review and evaluate all contractor/subcontractor
activities.
(a)
The Affirmative Action Compliance Officer shall issue a written
alert notice to a contractor and/or appropriate unions, whenever,
in the Compliance Officer's opinion the contractor/subcontractor has
violated the terms and/or conditions of this ordinance. If the alert
notice is not removed by correction of the deficiencies identified
in the notice within the time specified, the Compliance Officer shall
follow-up the alert notice by issuing a written "violation notice".
Upon issuance of such notice the contractor/subcontractor will have
five (5) working days to remove the violation(s). If the violations
have not been removed within that period, the Human Relations Commission
will so notify the City Administrator and recommend the appropriate
action. The City Administrator may issue, thereafter, an order for
withholding of contract payments. Within fifteen (15) days thereafter
a hearing shall be held by the City Council at which hearing the contractor
and/or subcontractor shall be given a full opportunity to be heard
on all issues respecting the alleged violations as listed in the "violation
notice." The City Council will thereupon have the right to sanction
the contractor and/or subcontractor if it finds that the terms and
conditions of this ordinance have been violated. Such sanctions may
include any and all of the following:
(1)
The withholding of contract payments.
(2)
The termination or suspension of the contract in whole or in
part.
(3)
The right to assess the contractor/subcontractor in accordance
with the following schedule, including full back pay for each individual
injured by such non-compliance.
Contract Amount
|
---|
$10,000 — — $99,000
|
$100,000 — — $499,000
|
$500,000 — — $1,000,000
|
All over $1,000,000
|
Pay Day Penalty
|
---|
$250.00
|
$500.00
|
$800.00
|
$1,000.00
|
(4)
Enforcement of the City of its right under its contract with
the contractor or subcontractor, either by an action at law or in
equity, or arbitration, whichever is appropriate.
(b)
The City reserves the right to invoke the terms and language
contained in the State of New Jersey's Affirmative Action Regulations,
pursuant to P.L. 1975, C. 127 in the settlement of any issues or conditions
found on a project and not covered by the terms and language expressed
in this policy.