Affirmative Action Plan of the Massachusetts Trial Court
VI. Future Actions

A.	Disabled Workers and Vietnam Era Veterans The Trial Court intends to develop programs to implement equal employment opportunity for disabled workers and Vietnam era veterans. Initial efforts will focus on devising methods for identifying such workers, while respecting the right to self-identification and the retention of confidentiality. As regards disabled workers, special attention will be given to developing policies on reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodation involves removing barriers which prevent or limit employment opportunities for eligible disabled persons, while not imposing undue hardship upon the court. Policies regarding employment of Vietnam era veterans will provide for such concerns as compensation without regard to other benefits received and the availability of any special counseling these employees may require. Policies for both groups will involve training of Trial Court employees. Such training should address stereotypes members of these groups may face which could limit their access to all jobs for which they are qualified.
B.	Applicant Flow Data In the future, the Trial Court will attempt to respond to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Gender Bias Study (1989) recommendation that it "should implement a computerized database management program to enable it to measure the effectiveness of its equal employment opportunity and affirmative action programs. Such a system would compile and maintain applicant flow data for new hires and promotions and information about the qualifications and characteristics of both successful and unsuccessful applicants for promotion." (p. 186) As explained previously, monitoring applicant flow allows the Trial Court to discover discrimination where it may not have otherwise. For instance, if the applicant pool does not reflect the labor market, the Trial Court will be alerted that it should review its recruitment practices. If, in the case where the applicant pool does reflect the available population, but the applicants interviewed do not, then the Trial Court will know to investigate the procedure for choosing applicants to interview.
C.	Goals The Trial Court is committed to improving its method for setting affirmative action goals. The best process for setting goals is one which tracks the opening of positions, both projected and known, and identities trends in how openings are filled (i.e., whether by new hire or promotion). When such information is collected, computerized, and analyzed, the Affirmative Action Officer will be able to determine:
	1.	realistic goals specific to the workplace of the Trial Court;
	2.	whether it should focus efforts on hiring minorities and women or on promoting them;
	3.	whether members of these groups are leaving the system at higher rates than other personnel; and
	4.	what affirmative action efforts are necessary to address any problems identified.
	To accomplish this, the Affirmative Action Officer will work with the Human Resources Department and the Information Technology Department to gather and computerize the necessary statistics. The Officer will work with the Human Resources Department to ensure the correct identification of labor markets from which employees for various job classifications are recruited, and the correct categorization of job titles.