Word Document #1 macc 2015

1. FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS
Questions and Answers on Title 29 CFR Part 30

2. 1. Question - May the upper age restriction be waived for minorities and females and not for applicants
in general without risking a discrimination complaint?
Answer - No. In general, sponsors must not apply restrictions to one class of applicants and not to
others. However, where upper age restrictions have excluded minorities or women disproportionately,
sponsors may waive such restrictions for those groups in order to remedy past discrimination.
2. Question - Does the regulation require that the attrition rate among women during the term of their
apprenticeship not exceed the attrition rate for the program as a whole? If women represent 20 percent
of an entry class of apprentices, are they expected to equal 20 percent of the same class during the
second and each subsequent year of their apprenticeship? If this interpretation is correct, how is a
program sponsor expected to administer their program to meet this requirement?
Answer - No. The regulations require sponsors to take affirmative action to recruit, select, employ, train
and maintain women as apprentices. The regulations do not require that the same proportion of women
be retained in each year of the program regardless of performance and qualifications. The regulations
do require a demonstration of good faith efforts which can reasonably be expected to make the program
work. These good faith efforts should include encouragement of women already in apprenticeship
programs to continue in such programs.
3. Question - Can a sponsor limit the number of applicants they will accept?
Answer - Yes, but a sponsor should not limit the number of applicants before taking all appropriate
affirmative action steps to increase the numbers of women or minorities in the applicant pool so as to
assure equal employment opportunity.
4. Question - Can a sponsor control the composition of the list by specifying how many applicants will
be given to minorities and women?
Answer - No. Again, sponsors must take good faith affirmative action steps to include women and
minorities in the pool of eligible applicants, but may not apply different application procedures to
different groups of applicants. The application period should be long enough to assure the receipt of an
adequate number of applications from all groups.
5. Question - May a separate ranking list be maintained for women and minorities?
Answer - No. Generally, separate ranking lists may not be employed, and selection of apprentices must
be made in accordance with Title 29 CFR 30.5. However, separate ranking lists are permissible where:
(1) the selection process has an adverse impact on women or minorities and has not been validated in
accordance with 41 CFR Part 60—3, or (2) there has been a legislative, judicial or administrative

3. finding that women or minorities have been discriminated against in the past and separate ranking lists
are necessary to remedy that discrimination, in which case such action would be consistent with the
Supreme Court’s decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, or (3) the sponsor is
complying with the EEOC Guidelines on Affirmative Action, which appear at Title 29 CFR Part 1608,
or (4) the circumstances described by the Supreme Court in Steelworkers v. Weber, 47 USLW 4851
(1979), are met.
6. Question - What advice can we give sponsors regarding maternity and paternity leave?
Answer - OFCCP’s Sex Discrimination Guidelines (41 CFR Part 60-20) provide that women shall not
be penalized in their conditions of employment because they require time away from work on account
of childbearing. When, under the employer’s leave policy, the female employee would qualify for
leave, then childbearing must be considered by the employer to be a justification for leave of absence
for female employees for a reasonable period of time. If the employer has no leave policy, childbearing
must be considered by the employer to be a justification for leave of absence for a female employee for
a reasonable period of time. /41 CFR §60-20.3(g)/ The Guidelines are silent with respect to paternity
leave. In general, the conditions applicable to a male employee’s leave shall be in accordance with the
employer’s otherwise applicable non-sick leave policy. Although 29 CFR 30 does not contain any
specific provision on maternity and paternity leave, we think OA can look to OFCCP’s Guidelines for
guidance.
7. Question - Is an employer exempt from Title 29 CFR Part 30 under Title 29 CFR Section 30.3(e) if it
has a written affirmative action program approved under Executive Order 11246 but which does not
provide for goals and timetables for minorities and women in apprenticeship?
Answer - No. Under Title 29 CFR Section 30.3(e) a sponsor is exempt from the requirements of Title
29 CFR Part 30 only if it submits satisfactory evidence that it is in compliance with an affirmative
action program approved under Executive Order 11246 which provides for affirmative action in
apprenticeship including goals and timetables for women and minorities. If the affirmative action
program only provides for goals for minorities, the sponsor must comply with the requirements of Title
29 CFR Part 30 in setting goals and timetables for women. The same holds for equal opportunity
programs approved under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.
8. Question - In a group program (either joint union and management or nonjoint management
program) where individual employers select the apprentices, if each employer has fewer than 5
apprentices, is the program exempt under Title 29 CFR Section 30.3(b)?
Answer - No. The sponsor of the program is the joint committee so that the number of apprentices in
the program is measured by the total number indentured by the committee, i.e., the sum of all
apprentices employed by all the member employers.
9. Question - In joint program such as that described in question 8, who is responsible for making good

4. faith efforts to achieve the goals and timetables, the joint committee or the
individual employers?
Answer - The joint committee, as the sponsor of the program, is responsible for meeting the goals and
timetables or for demonstrating that good faith efforts have been made to attain the goals and
timetables. If individual employer members of the group program have not made a good faith effort to
recruit, select and train minorities and women so that the program as a whole fails to meet its goals, the
joint committee, as the sponsor, would be held responsible and the whole program could be
deregistered.
10. Question - The terms “labor force” and “workforce” are both used in Title 29 CFR Part 30. Is there
any difference?
Answer - No. The terms are synonymous.
11. Question - Is there a minimum number of affirmative action steps under Title 29 CFR Section
30.4(c) which are acceptable as required activities by all sponsors?
Answer - No. The circumstances of each sponsor vary too widely to expect all sponsors to undertake
the same outreach and recruitment activities. Good faith effort will be judged by the extent to which
each sponsor engaged in affirmative action efforts appropriate to its circumstances.
12. Question - If a sponsor selects apprentices on the basis of rank from a pool of eligible applicants,
may the sponsor pass over higher ranked men to reach women with a lower rank in order to meet the
goals and timetables?
Answer - One of three conditions must be met before this procedure may be used. Generally, selections
are to be made on the basis of qualifications assuming good faith affirmative action steps have been
taken to include women and minorities in the pool of eligible applicants. However, selection out of
rank order is permissible where
(1) the selection process has an adverse impact on women or minorities and has not been
validated in accordance with 41 CFR Part 60-3, or
(2) there has been a legislative, judicial or administrative finding that women or minorities have
been discriminated against in the past and selection out of rank order is necessary to remedy
that discrimination. Such action would be consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) or
(3) the sponsor is taking affirmative action under the EEOC’s Guidelines on affirmative action

5. (Title 29 CFR Part 1608).
13. Question - If a sponsor selects a minority woman to be an apprentice, should that person be counted
as a minority, as a woman, or may she be counted as both?
Answer - If the goal for women is set on the basis of an availability analysis for women in accordance
with Title 29 CFR Section 30.3(e), then it would be appropriate to count minority women in both
categories. The Census Bureau workforce statistics include minority women under both the figure for
minorities and the figure for women so that it would be reasonable to count minority women under
both categories for measuring success in meeting goals.
14. Question - Under Title 29 CFR Section 30.6, a sponsor must discard existing lists of eligible if there
are fewer minorities or women on the lists than would be expected as a result of the underutilization
analysis required by Title 29 CFR Section 30.4(e). What should be done with the applications of
individuals on such a list?
Answer - The applications of those individuals must be retained and their names placed on the new list
in their appropriate places according to the selection procedure along with women and minorities.
15. Question - May a sponsor seek and accept applications exclusively from minorities and women in
order to meet its goals and timetables?
Answer - No. Equal opportunity and affirmative action under Title 29 CFR Part 30 does not require and
does not permit preferential treatment for any group. A goal is a numerical objective which the sponsor
must strive to achieve, not a fixed number which must be attained. A sponsor is not required, nor is it
permissible, to recruit or accept applications from members of only one group, or to repeatedly discard
eligibility lists until the “proper” percentages are attained, or to select individuals without
regard to qualifications, in order to meet the goal.
16. Question - Is it permissible for a sponsor to test applicants for physical ability?
Answer – Yes. Sponsors may give tests of physical ability which are part of the job content, (for
example, ability to lift or move specific items which an apprentice is required to handle on the job) if
goals required for women in construction under Executive Order 11246 are lower than the entering
class goal required by Title 29 CFR Part 30 for apprenticeship programs, this is appropriate in view of
the fact that the Executive Order 11246 goals apply to all levels of construction work, not just
apprenticeship.

6. 17. Question - Who will monitor the compliance and good faith affirmative action efforts of program
sponsors?
Answer - Enforcement and monitoring of compliance with Title 29 CFR Part 30 is the responsibility of
the Office of Apprenticeship or of State Apprenticeship Councils in States where OA has granted
recognition to a State agency to monitor compliance by program sponsors.
18. Question - If a sponsor opened and closed an application period just prior to the effective date of
the amended Title 29 CFR Part 30, and few women applied, is the sponsor required to take any other
action to bring women into the program before the next application period?
Answer - Unless the sponsor’s action was an attempt to avoid the requirements of the regulations (i.e.,
the application period was moved up to take place before the effective date of the regulation when it
had been planned to take place later) no further action is required if openings do not exist.
19. Question - How should sponsors treat pregnant applicants and pregnant apprentices?
Answer - Pregnancy should be treated in the same manner as any other temporary disability. If a
woman’s doctor determines she is physically capable of performing the work involved in the particular
trade in question, she cannot be rejected for admission or laid off because she is pregnant.
20. Question - In a group program (joint unions and management program) where individual
employers select the apprentices, if each employer has fewer than 5 apprentices, is the program exempt
under Title 29 CFR Selection 30.3 (b)
Answer: No. The Sponsor of the program is the joint committee so that the number of apprentices in
the program is measured by the total number indentured by the committee, i.e., the sum of all
apprentices employed by all the member employers.

7. 17. Question - Who will monitor the compliance and good faith affirmative action efforts of program
sponsors?
Answer - Enforcement and monitoring of compliance with Title 29 CFR Part 30 is the responsibility of
the Office of Apprenticeship or of State Apprenticeship Councils in States where OA has granted
recognition to a State agency to monitor compliance by program sponsors.
18. Question - If a sponsor opened and closed an application period just prior to the effective date of
the amended Title 29 CFR Part 30, and few women applied, is the sponsor required to take any other
action to bring women into the program before the next application period?
Answer - Unless the sponsor’s action was an attempt to avoid the requirements of the regulations (i.e.,
the application period was moved up to take place before the effective date of the regulation when it
had been planned to take place later) no further action is required if openings do not exist.
19. Question - How should sponsors treat pregnant applicants and pregnant apprentices?
Answer - Pregnancy should be treated in the same manner as any other temporary disability. If a
woman’s doctor determines she is physically capable of performing the work involved in the particular
trade in question, she cannot be rejected for admission or laid off because she is pregnant.
20. Question - In a group program (joint unions and management program) where individual
employers select the apprentices, if each employer has fewer than 5 apprentices, is the program exempt
under Title 29 CFR Selection 30.3 (b)
Answer: No. The Sponsor of the program is the joint committee so that the number of apprentices in
the program is measured by the total number indentured by the committee, i.e., the sum of all
apprentices employed by all the member employers.