Frequently Asked Questions

Equal employment opportunity prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), ethnicity and national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information. The goal of equal opportunity is to ensure that all applicants and employees have a fair opportunity in employment.

Affirmative action refers to actions, policies, and procedures that are designed to achieve equal employment opportunity. Affirmative action requires contractors to make a good faith effort to achieve and maintain a workforce where women and minorities are represented at levels proportionate with their availability in the labor pool from which the employer can reasonably be expected to recruit. Affirmative action also includes good faith efforts towards military applicants and individuals with disabilities. Affirmative action is required for federal contractors; Virginia Tech is a federal contractor.

Protected military status include disabled military, recently separated military, active duty wartime or campaign badge military, or Armed Forces service medal military. Visit the Department of Labor’s website for more information on the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.

An individual is considered to have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.

Employees may update their race, disability status, and/or military status at any time by logging into HokieSpa, clicking on Hokie Team, and selecting the following links from the menu:

• Race: "Update Ethinicity and Race Banner 9"
• Disability Status: "Update Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Information Banner 9"
• Military Status: "Veterans Classification Banner 9"

An individual with a disability seeking an accommodation should contact ADA and Accessibility Services.

Discrimination is an action that adversely affects an individual’s employment opportunities based a category that is protected by Virginia Tech policy or applicable laws. Virginia Tech does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of age, color, disability, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, ethnicity or national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, or military status, unless otherwise permitted or required by applicable law. Virginia Tech does not otherwise discriminate against employees or applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the compensation of other employees or applicants nor on any other basis protected by law. Discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities receiving federal financial funding as set forth in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, is included in this definition of prohibited discrimination.

An affirmative action plan is a management tool that includes diagnostic and self-monitoring components as well as specific and result-oriented policies and procedures designed to achieve equal employment opportunity.

“An affirmative action program is, thus, more than a paperwork exercise. An affirmative action program includes those policies, practices, and procedures that the contractor implements to ensure that all qualified applicants and employees are receiving an equal opportunity for recruitment, selection, advancement, and every other term and privilege associated with employment. Affirmative action, ideally, is a part of the way the contractor regularly conducts its business. OFCCP has found that when an affirmative action program is approached from this perspective, as a powerful management tool, there is a positive correlation between the presence of affirmative action and the absence of discrimination.” (41CFR60-2.10)

Virginia Tech uses functional affirmative action plans (FAAPs), which allows university senior management areas with 50 or more employees to develop individual affirmative action plans.

No. Search committee members gain access to application materials by using a guest username and password that is assigned when the search is approved. Contact the search chair for this information. 

There is no set requirement as to the number of search committee members but a committee should be more than one person. Committees should include constituents who have a legitimate interest in the position. Additionally, special attention should be taken to ensure that the committee is diverse and includes a person from outside the department.

No, once a job is posted, significant changes cannot be made to the position description. If changes need to be made to the job, the position description will need to be updated and the job reposted for a new search.