SYSTEM REGULATION
33.99.01 Employment Practices
July 14, 1997, Revised July 15, 1998, Revised December 6, 1999, Revised
July 17, 2004
1. VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.1 System components
may promote qualified internal candidates to fill positions without posting a
vacancy. Each System component should
establish a written procedure for filling positions by promotion.
1.2 When
qualified applicants are available in the System, the human resources officer
or appropriate academic vice president (for faculty positions) may authorize
limiting vacancy announcements to System-wide internal advertisement.
1.3 All
other position vacancies must be publicized to be accessible to as many qualified
individuals as is practicable. Vacancies
in classified and nonclassified nonfaculty budgeted positions must be posted
for at least five working days with the appropriate Human Resources department,
unless the component procedures dictate an alternate posting location. Vacancies in faculty positions must be posted
with the appropriate academic vice president or equivalent and, if required by
component procedures, with the Human Resources department.
1.4 In
accordance with State law (656.001, Texas Government
Code), if persons from outside the System will be considered for an employment
opening, the vacancy must be listed with the Texas Workforce Commission. In addition, to ensure a diverse applicant
pool, System components may advertise openings in periodicals, post
announcements on and off site, list openings with professional associations,
enter announcements in appropriate databases and use other means to widely
publicize the open position.
1.5 The
System component Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or designee must approve any
waiver of normal posting and recruiting procedures.
2. RECRUITING
The System provides equal
opportunity to all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national
origin, disability, age or veteran status.
System components are encouraged to develop programs for building
potential candidate pools to ensure applicants of varying backgrounds can be
identified when openings occur. For
example, potential candidates can be identified through personal and professional
networking, through sharing of applications among System components and, when
openings occur, through advertising in a variety of media aimed at a variety of
audiences.
3. APPLICATION RETENTION
Each System component will maintain, for two years,
employment applications and other relevant data on all job applicants who are
not hired. Employment applications and
relevant data on hired applicants should be kept throughout their employment
and for five years after employment terminates.
If the current Records Retention Schedule states a different retention
period, it will govern.
4. SEARCH
COMMITTEES
Each System component should
establish written procedures for faculty and staff searches that use
committees. The procedures should
specify circumstances in which a search committee will be formed, require that
committee membership be appropriately diverse, provide guidelines for ensuring
consistency in search procedures and establish parameters for the focus and
scope of searches.
5. EMPLOYMENT
5.1 Employment
decisions will be based on job-related factors such as education, experience,
knowledge, skills, abilities, license/certification requirements, results of
reference checks, and success in previous employment. Race, sex, religious affiliation, or other
protected status or classification shall not be the basis for a hiring
decision.
5.2 The
hiring supervisor or other appropriate person should verify references,
previous employment and other job-related credentials before an offer of
employment is made.
5.3 System components may obtain criminal history information on an applicant to evaluate the individual for employment. Criminal history information should be obtained either on finalists for all positions or only on finalists for security-sensitive positions. This information may be obtained from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) public database, through a more expansive DPS database accessible by law enforcement departments (for security sensitive positions only) or from other available sources. Components may establish procedures for retention of information obtained from the public database consistent with the System Records Retention Schedule. Component law enforcement departments obtaining criminal history information through the more expansive database must comply with the provisions of Tex. Gov't. Code Chapter 411, which address access, use and destruction of criminal history information.
6. SELECTIVE
SERVICE REGISTRATION
All offers of employment to males ages
18 through 25, including temporary and student workers, must be contingent on
proof of the applicant's compliance with federal selective service law. If the applicant is not currently registered,
but is required to be, he may be given an opportunity to register before he is
hired. Proof of compliance may not be
required until a contingent offer of employment is made because confirmation
may require that the System gather information that may not be used during the
selection process.
7. APPROVAL
TO
In accordance with the
component CEOs or designees established written procedures, a vacancy notice
may not be posted and an offer of employment may not be made until the position
and proposed salary have been approved.
8. SYSTEM COMPONENT RULES OR PROCEDURES
Each System component will
publish a component rule and/or procedures to be followed in the hiring
process. It will include timely
orientations and appropriate training as required by policy, law or regulation.
9. COMPLIANCE
All employment practices must
comply with applicable state and federal laws.
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CONTACT OFFICE: The System Human
Resources Office
HISTORY: Last issued: December 6, 1999