[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.