Answer to Question 1
B
Answer to Question 2
Affirmative action is the proactive effort to eliminate discrimination and its effects, and to ensure nondiscriminatory results in employment practices in the future. Affirmative action began as a supplement to the Civil Rights Act's promise to end race discrimination in employment.
An affirmative action plan describes in detail the actions to be taken, procedures to be allowed, and standards to be adhered to, to establish an affirmative action program. Affirmative action plans can include, but are not limited to, provisions for nondiscriminatory recruitment, training, and promotion. Procedures for internal record keeping, auditing, and reporting are often included to ensure compliance and measure the program's success.
Affirmative action plans must apply to everyone, regardless of their age, gender, race, creed, physical ability, or national origin. It assures that everyone has an equal opportunity to compete for all employment benefits and to participate in all employer-sponsored programs based on individual merit, which must be determined by criteria which are applied equally to everyone, and which do not systematically favor one group over another.
Affirmative action programs may give preferential treatment to qualified applicants from underrepresented protected groups. Numerical benchmarks are usually established based on the availability of qualified applicants in the job market or qualified candidates in the employer's workforce. These numerical goals do not create quotas for specific groups, nor are they designed to guarantee proportional representation or equal results. A contractor's failure to attain its goals is not in and of itself considered to be a violationa failure to make good faith efforts to attain the goals is.