UNIVERSITY POLICY

SUBJECT: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EEO TITLE: RELIGION AND
NATIONAL ORIGIN

CODING: 00-01-35-30:00 ADOPTED: 02/24/81 AMENDED: 11/01/97

I. PURPOSE

To establish a policy to ensure nondiscrimination based upon religion and/or national origin in accordance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

II. ACCOUNTABILITY

Under the direction of the President, the Associate Vice President for Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity (AA/EEO) shall ensure compliance with this policy. The Associate Vice President for Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity in concert with the Deans and Vice Presidents shall implement this policy.

III. POLICY

A.    Requirements:
       1.    The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey prohibits
              discrimination based upon religion and/or national origin and ensures that
              applicants and employees are treated fairly during employment.
       2.    The University will actively recruit at educational institutions with substantial
              enrollment of students from various religious and ethnic groups.
       3.    All recruiting sources shall be notified of the University's commitment to
              provide equal employment/educational opportunity without regard to
              religion and/or national origin.
      4.    The University will make reasonable accommodations for the religious
             observance and practices of a prospective employee who regularly observes
             Friday evenings and Saturday or some other day of the week as his/her
             Sabbath.
      5.    The University will make a reasonable attempt to accommodate
             employees/students who observe certain religious holidays during the year
             and who are opposed to performing work or engaging in similar activity on
             such days by observing paid optional holidays which can be used at the
             employee's/student's discretion.
B.   Responsibilities:
       1.    Employees and job applicants shall be responsible for submitting requests
              for reasonable accommodations to the appropriate director, manager,
              supervisor, or for students to the Dean of the school. The request should
              include an explanation of the reasons for the accommodation and the type
              of accommodation that is needed.
       2.    Deans, Vice Presidents, directors, managers, and supervisors shall be
              responsible for:
              a.    hiring individuals, and implementing terms and conditions of
                     employment without regard to religion or national origin;
              b.    reviewing and documenting requests from employees, job applicants
                     and students for accommodations;
              c.    determining whether reasonable accommodations can be made and
                     conferring with the AA/EEO Office, Office of Legal Management, or
                     other appropriate department, if necessary; and
             d.    documenting reasonable accommodations requests that were denied
                    with an explanation of the reasons for the denial and forwarding
                    information to the AA/EEO Office.
       3    The AA/EEO Office shall be responsible for:
             a.    providing guidance on making accommodations at the request of a
                    Dean, Vice President, director, manager or supervisor;
             b.    monitoring the performance of management in complying with this
                    policy;
             c.    informing Deans, Vice Presidents, directors, managers or supervisors
                    about requests for reasonable accommodations; and
             d.    consulting with Deans, Vice Presidents or the Office of Legal
                    Management regarding requests for reasonable accommodations based
                    upon religion or national origin.

__________________________
President

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