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I agree that would it would be a big blow to elimate
Minneapolis' Civil Rights Department. Although there are similar agencies
on the state (Department of Human Rights) and federal level (EEOC), only
Minneapolis' Civil Rights Department is empowered to enforce Minneapolis' local
civil rights ordinance. All three agencies are already unable to
conduct adequate investigations because they have too low budgets and too few
staff to handle large caseloads by many people complaining of
discrimination. The more cuts of any of the agencies, the more unlikely
that victims of discrimination can have their cases addressed. Minneapolis
has particular need for a civil rights department because it has the most
diverse population in the state, and a proportionally larger number of
businesses and people are employed within city limits.
One particular advantage of the Minneapolis Civil Rights
Department over the state and federal agencies is that is the only agency with a
procedure to automatically follow through on discrimination cases with
merit. The procedure in all the agencies is to conduct an
investigation, and then make an initial determination of whether there is
"probable cause" or "no probable cause" to support the charge of
discrimination. (Unfortunately, the state and federal agencies also
have a loophole where they dismiss the charge on the grounds that it does not
warrant further resources, without conducting a full investigation). After
making a finding of probable cause, the state and federal agencies have
discretion to decide whether to pursue the case further, either through an
agency hearing or in court. Due to their limited resources, the state
Human Rights Department and federal EEOC usually do not pursue most cases where
they find probable cause. This leaves the victim of discrimination in
the position of having to hire a lawyer to pursue his or her case in order to
actually get relief. Many will not be able to find or afford a lawyer,
even if their case was determined to have merit. Those who earn low or
moderate incomes, and may well be unemployed after being discriminatorily
terminated from employment, cannot begin to pay a lawyer's hourly fee. A
lawyer is unlikely to take a case on a contingency fee (getting paid out of a
judgment or settlement in the client's favor), unless there were large financial
damages or really egregious harassment. This leaves out the majority of
victims of discrimination. The Minneapolis Civil Rights Deparment's
procedure, however, automatically leads to the case being heard by a panel of
three commissioners, if there is probable cause to support a charge. This
enables the victims of discrimination without lawyers to get a
hearing.
The elimination of the Civil Rights Department would
really signal the end of Minneapolis' tradition of being in the forefront of
civil rights advances.
Jordan Kushner
downtown civil rights lawyer
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- [Mpls] Minneapolis Human Rights Don Jorovsky
- Jordan S. Kushner
