New York (State). Dept. of Civil Service. Merit System Affirmative Action Office.

Executive Order 40 (1976) established a State government-wide affirmative action program.

Each agency was required to draft a plan for the achievement of equal employment opportunities for minorities, women and the disabled. The Division of Human Rights (D.H.R.) received and approved agency plans, and an Executive Committee for Affirmative Action, chaired by the Civil Service Commission's President, oversaw the entire program. Responding to the Executive Order, the Department of Civil Service (D.C.S.) established in 1977 a Merit System Affirmative Action Office (A.A.O.) to assist the Commission's President in his/her role as the Executive Committee's chairperson, serve as a liaision between D.C.S. and D.H.R. and the organizations concerned with equal opportunity, and coordinate the Department's own affirmative action program. The A.A.O. also began to refer discrimination complaints to appropriate agencies and even investigated a number of them. Executive Order 40.1 (1980) gave D.C.S. primary responsibility for the State's affirmative program and A.A.O. was assigned the task of reviewing, approving, and monitoring agency affirmative action plans. In 1981 the A.A.O. was merged with the Department's Career Opportunity Division to form a new Division of Affirmative Careers.

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