[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Atlantic
City as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Affirmative action — See Ch. 7.
[Adopted 12-21-2011 by Ord. No. 83-2011]
City employment applications shall not contain a "box" or inquiry
regarding an applicant's prior criminal history.
Except as otherwise provided by state and/or federal law, the
City shall not inquire about an applicant's conviction history
until after it has been determined that the applicant is otherwise
qualified for the position for which he/she applied.
After an applicant has been identified as otherwise qualified,
the City shall offer a conditional offer of employment to the applicant,
pending a background check. Prior to conducting a criminal history
check, the City must advise the applicant, in writing, of the following:
The City shall consider the following factors when deciding
to offer employment to an applicant with a prior criminal conviction(s):
A.Â
The nature of the crime and whether it relates in any way to the
job for which the applicant has applied; and
B.Â
The degree of rehabilitation of the applicant; and
C.Â
The time elapsed since the applicant's conviction or release;
and
D.Â
Any information produced by the applicant, or on his/her behalf,
in regard to his/her rehabilitation and good conduct; and
E.Â
The age of the applicant at the time he/she committed the criminal
offense(s); and
F.Â
The gravity of the offense(s); and
G.Â
The public policy of the City to encourage the employment of persons
with prior criminal convictions by the City and/or by the vendors
the City engages for business.
If, as a result of a criminal history check, the City finds
a legitimate reason to deny, refuse, rescind or revoke a contingent
offer of employment, the City must immediately notify the applicant
of the reason for the adverse decision and provide the applicant with
a photocopy of the criminal history report, highlighting the particular
conviction(s) warranting the denial of employment.
A.Â
The applicant shall have 10 business days, after receiving notice
that he/she will not become employed by the City, to respond to the
City regarding his/her criminal history; and
B.Â
The City shall provide the applicant with an opportunity to present information/evidence to rebut the accuracy and/or relevance of the criminal history information, including any information pertaining to the factors listed in § 30-4 above; and
C.Â
The City shall review any information submitted by the applicant
prior to its decision to affirm or reverse its decision to deny, refuse,
rescind or revoke a contingent offer of employment to the applicant.
The City of Atlantic City shall only conduct business with vendors
that have adopted and implemented policies, practices and standards,
regarding an applicant's prior criminal history, that are consistent
with the City's policies, practices and standards.
The party responsible for awarding City contracts shall review
all vendors' policies, practices and standards for the hiring
of applicants with prior criminal convictions to ensure that the vendors'
practices, policies and standards are consistent with the City's
policies, practices and standards.
The vendors' policies, practices and standards on employing
applicants with prior criminal convictions shall be made a part of
the criteria to be considered by the City when awarding contracts.
[Adopted 8-6-2014 by Ord.
No. 44-2014]
Article 1. It is hereby declared to be the public policy of
the City Counsel that the hiring of Atlantic City residents to the
greatest extent possible by developers, construction contractors and
any other entities or individuals which have been contracted to conduct
business with the City of Atlantic City shall be applied to any and
all federally or state-assisted, City-sponsored or privately funded
developments within the City limits, with bona fide Atlantic City
residents being afforded a minimum of 40% of the total employee worker
hours in each construction trade and/or company position. The term
"employee" shall apply to persons filling apprenticeship and on-the-job
training positions, and said developers, contractors and employers
may rely upon the traditional referral methods in the hiring of employees,
journeyman, apprentices, trainees and helpers.
A.Â
The City of Atlantic City requires, as part of its bid specifications
and contract stipulations, that all/any prospective contractors bidding
for a municipal contract in a service provider category take affirmative
steps to the greatest extent feasible to employ 40% of qualified Atlantic
City residents.
B.Â
Contractors awarded municipal contracts in compliance with Subsection A above are required to submit semiannual progress reports to the Office of the City Clerk, the Office of Affirmative Action and to the user agency, containing an accurate record of the number of Atlantic City residents hired as well as the number of Atlantic City residents currently employed on the project; the number of training positions, if any, and the amount of positions that will be filled by Atlantic City residents; the necessary level of job skills required of Atlantic City residents to plan and implement the work to be done on the job. In semiannual reports, the contractor should document all good faith efforts in their actions to hire Atlantic City residents. Examples of such documentation should consist of the following:
The City Council does hereby establish a First Source Employment
Linkage Program to facilitate and encourage private sector employment
opportunities to qualified Atlantic City residents by requiring the
recipient of any economic incentive to execute a first source agreement
and make a good faith effort to hire qualified Atlantic City residents
for all long-term jobs.
A.Â
To facilitate this program, the Atlantic City First Source Employment
Committee shall be established (herein after "the Committee"). The
Committee shall consist of a designee from the City's Human Resource
Department, the City's Affirmative Action/EEO Officer, and a
representative of the City Solicitor's Office and a member of
City Council. The Committee shall serve as intermediary between the
business community and a network of service providers, job training
agencies and educational institutions to best maximize the socio-economic
potential of this agreement.
B.Â
The Committee shall attempt to evenly distribute job referrals amongst
the network of service providers, job training agencies and educational
institutions. This effort is to ensure that the City as a whole is
able to benefit from this first source program. The network of service
providers, job training agencies and educational institutions shall
refer to this Committee only qualified individuals that reside in
the City of Atlantic City.
C.Â
The Committee shall send semi-annual reports to the administration
and City Council outlining the number of individuals referred by the
Committee to be interviewed during that particular semi-annual; how
many individuals referred by the Committee were hired during that
particular semiannual; the dates of termination of any individual
referred by the Committee that was hired and the length of each individual's
employment; if applicable, from which service provider, job training
agency or educational institution the hired individuals were referred
to the Committee; which ward the hired individuals reside in; and
the wages and benefits received by the hired individuals. If a lack
of good faith has been demonstrated on the part of any recipient,
this shall also be included in the reports. The Committee shall also
include recommendations and suggestions about how this employment
linkage program could be improved.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Includes its employees, agents and assignees.
As any of the following economic benefits approved by the
City Council for a recipient:
A tax abatement or exemption for a property which reduces the
cumulative amount of taxes otherwise due by $25,000 or more;
Any federal, state, county or municipal grant or loan of $25,000
or more;
City property which is conveyed at a private sale for no or
nominal consideration, which has an actual air market value of $25,000
or more;
A City contract for services over $100,000 (excluding contracts
executed pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:11-5); and/or
Any/all prospective contractors bidding for a municipal contract
in a service-provider category.
The period of time commencing within the pre-hiring notification
of the Committee by the recipient, during which time the recipient
may not take any actions to fill a position, including but not limited
to advertising, announcing, recruiting or interviewing. The length
of the exclusivity period shall be determined by the Committee after
consultation with the recipient, but in no event shall be less than
15 days;
A binding agreement between the City and any recipient of
an economic incentive, wherein the recipient agrees to make a good
faith effort to hire qualified individuals who reside in the City
of Atlantic City.
Includes but is not limited to all of the following activities:
Pre-hiring notification and exclusivity period: At least 15
days prior to advertising for any employees, the recipient shall submit
to the Committee a written notice of the number and qualifications
of the prospective employees needed for any long-term job, as well
as a description of the job to be filled. This description shall include
the work hours, wage scale, benefits and hiring schedule of the positions.
This will enable the Committee to refer qualified applicants to the
recipient. During this period, the recipient shall adhere to the above
requirements of the exclusivity period. If any of the information
submitted to the Committee relating to the number or qualifications
of prospective employees or the description of the job to be filled
is modified, the recipient shall file a pre-hiring notification and
the exclusivity period shall recommence. For positions not covered
by this agreement, the recipient may notify the Committee when such
positions become available so the Committee can notify the community
that such opportunities exist.
Mandatory contract provisions: All contracts entered into by
the recipient or the recipient's contractor shall be required
to comply with this article and the agreement executed thereunder.
The recipient will require the contractor or subcontractor, regardless
of tier, to complete and provide the Committee with a statement that
it will comply with this article and the agreement executed thereunder.
Collective bargaining agreement: The recipient will cause the
contractor to submit to the Committee copies of any collective bargaining
agreements covering workers to be employed, including any collective
bargaining agreements of any subcontractor.
Free hiring interviews: The recipient shall interview any applicant
referred to it by the Committee.
Semi-annual reports: The recipient will submit written semi-annual
employment reports to the Committee in the form to be provided by
the Committee. If the recipient failed to fill any position with any
qualified applicant referred by the Committee, the report will include
the reasons why.
Other reports: The recipient shall furnish such other reports
as are reasonably required by the Committee to implement the purposes
of this agreement.
Record access: The recipient will insure that the Committee
will have reasonable access to all files and records reasonably necessary
to confirm the accuracy of the information set forth in the reports,
including but not limited to records of employment and employment
advertisement, application forms and EEO-1 forms.
Work place access: The recipient shall ensure that the Committee
has reasonable access to the project site to physically monitor the
worksite to verify the accuracy of the information set forth in the
reports.
Those positions 90 days or more in duration. Positions created
as a result of internal promotions, terminations or expansions within
the recipient's workforce which are to be filled by new employees
are included. However, positions filled through promotion from within
the recipient's existing workforce are not covered positions
under this agreement.
Any individual, partnership, association, organization, for-profit
corporation or other entity, whether public or private, which receives
an economic incentive. This includes any contractor, subcontractor
or agent of the recipient.
Vendors who provide services to the City in the area of construction-related
services.
Prior to implementation of this First Source Employment Linkage
Program, the Committee must prepare and present to the City Counsel
a strategy as to how it will serve as intermediary between the business
community and the service providers, job training agencies and educational
institutions. This strategy should include:
A.Â
Creating an efficient network to identify qualified job recipients
between the Committee and the network of service providers, job training
agencies and educational institutions, as identified by the Committee.
B.Â
Creating all necessary documents to ensure compliance on the part
of any recipient. At a minimum, these documents will detail the names,
addresses, dates of hire/termination, wages, benefits and positions
hired for all new hires and terminations during each semi-annual period.
