Iowa Civil Rights Commission Annual Report

2001-2002The Iowa Civil Rights Commission Vision:

A state where all people are free from discrimination. 

The Iowa Civil Rights Commission Mission:

Enforcing civil rights through

Compliance, Mediation, Education, and Advocacy

2

T H O M A S J . V I L S A C K , G O V E R N O R I O W A C I V I L R I G H T S C O M M I S S I O N S A L L Y J . P E D E R S O N , L T . G O V E R N O R C O R L I S S . M O O D Y E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

T h e H o n o r a b l e T h o m a s J . V i l s a c k G o v e r n o r o f t h e S t a t e o f I o w a T h e S t a t e C a p i t o l D e s M o i n e s , I o w a 5 0 3 1 9 D e a r G o v e r n o r V i l s a c k : I n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e C o d e o f I o w a , I h e r e b y t r a n s m i t t o y o u a n d t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y , t h e A n n u a l R e p o r t o f t h e I o w a C i v i l R i g h t s C o m m i s s i o n f o r F i s c a l Y e a r 2 0 0 2 . D u r i n g F i s c a l Y e a r 2 0 0 2 , t h e I o w a C i v i l R i g h t s C o m m i s s i o n s o u g h t t o e l i m i n a t e d i s c r i m i n a t i o n b y e n f o r c i n g c i v i l r i g h t s t h r o u g h c o m p l i a n c e , r e c o n c i l i a t i o n , e d u c a t i o n a n d a d v o c a c y . O u r v i s i o n i s a s t a t e w h e r e a l l p e o p l e a r e f r e e o f d i s c r i m i n a t i o n . T h e I o w a C i v i l R i g h t s C o m m i s s i o n i s f o r t u n a t e t o h a v e t h e d e d i c a t i o n o f t h e s t a f f , t h e c o m m i s s i o n e r s , a n d t h e p u b l i c i n w o r k i n g t o g e t h e r t o e l i m i n a t e d i s c r i m i n a t i o n . Y o u r c o n t i n u e d s u p p o r t o f t h e c o m m i s s i o n a n d i t s o n g o i n g e f f o r t s t o c a r r y o u t t h e m a n d a t e s o f t h e L e g i s l a t u r e a n d t h e A c t a r e e a r n e s t l y s o l i c i t e d a n d a p p r e c i a t e d . R e s p e c t f u l l y s u b m i t t e d ,

S T A T E O F I O W A

Mediation

• The mediator’s role is as a neutral third party who facilitates the discussions between the Complainant and the Respondent. The purpose is to assist the parties to reach a compromise.

• Fortunately, as the result of the more recent trend towards alternative dispute resolution (ADR), more and more disputes are resolved by mediation, even before the parties file suit in court. Mediation reduces litigation and costs associated with court. There are two requirements that must be met at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission before mediation takes place: first, both parties must be willing to resolve the dispute and second the process must remain confidential.

• The partnership with the Local Commissions and the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to utilize space at the locals to conduct mediations throughout the state of Iowa has been continued. This partnership allows the team to travel and reduce any hardship on Complainants and Respondents.

•The Mediation Team was created to provide efficient and effective customer service for Iowans. Mediations are conducted throughout the state of Iowa. Onsite mediations encourage Complainants and Respondents to resolve disputes in one meeting, which decreases timeframes significantly in case resolution.

Mediation Processing Numbers$1,142,187.56 in settlements

637 complaints were forwarded to the Mediation Unit

In 145 complaints, both parties agreed to mediate

In 492 complaints, at least one party elected not to mediate

4 complaints were Administratively

closed for failure to cooperate

1 complaint was withdrawn

by the Complainant

5 complaints resulted in a request for a Right-to-sue

Letter

Settlement $ # Cases$100,000<= $ 3$ 50,000< = $ <$100,000 1$ 25,000<= $ <$ 50,000 5$ 10,000 <= $ <$ 25,000 21$ 5,000<= $ <$ 10,000 28$ 1,000<= $ <$5,000 43$0<= $ 1,000 13

Other than $ settlement 10

4 complaints were returned to the Local

agency

124 complaints were

successfully resolved through

agreement

11 complaints were forwarded to investigation

3 complaints were settled by the parties prior

to agency action

79 complaints resulted in a request for a Right-to-sue

Letter

383 complaints were forwarded to Investigation

18 complaints were

Withdrawn by the

Complainant

2 complaints were returned to the Local

agency

3 complaints were returned to the Intake

Unit

Case Processing

• Employment continued to be the largest area of complaints filed, 86.8%. This year, the second largest area was public accommodations, 8.1%; followed by housing, 3.4%.

• Disability continued to be the most frequently named basis (characteristic) for discrimination in non-housing cases, with 769 filings. This was followed by sex discrimination at 721 filings. These two leading causes of discrimination were followed by race at 572 filings, retaliation at 470, age at 359, and national origin at 177. All other bases accounted for only 115 other complaints.

•  In housing complaints, race was the most frequently named basis for discrimination with 34 filings. This was followed by disability with 22 and familial status with 12.

• In fiscal year 2002, 1673 complaints were filed against private employers; the other category, accounted for 198; and 169 were filed against state and local government employers. Almost half of the cases filed with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission came from four counties. Together these counties accounted for 1097 of the cases filed.

• Local human/civil rights commissions assist the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in processing or referring a number of cases every year. 443 cases were filed by local human/civil rights agencies.

• Of the 2199 case resolutions, the largest category was does not warrant further investigation/administrative closures at 44%, followed by satisfactory adjustments or withdrawal with benefits (settlements) 13.7%, rights-to-sue 11%, and administrative closures from locals, 10.6%.

During this fiscal year, 2367 complaints were filed with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Of those complaints, 170 were judged to be non-jurisdictional or untimely filed prior to being assigned a case number. Therefore, the number of complaints docketed for processing was 2,197. Resolutions numbered 2,199. Individuals who filed complaints with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission recovered $1,949,862.20 in settlement agreements/annualized benefits.

Filings by Area

136 75

177

1908

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000Credit (1)

Education (36)

Housing (75)

PublicAccommodation(177)Employment(1908)

Filings in Non-housing Cases by Basis

6

4267

177

359

470

572

721

769

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800Creed (6)

Religion (42)

Color (67)

National origin(177)

Age (359)

Retaliation (470)

Race (572)

Sex (721)

Disability (769)

Filings in Housing Cases by Basis

2

2

7

9

9

12

22

34

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Color

Religion

Retaliation

Sex

National Origin

Familial Status

Disability

Race

Filings in Employment by Employer Type

4

10

19

22

26

76

169

198

1673

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Private Elem/Sec School

Union

Private College

Private Employment Agency

Public College

Public Elem/Sec School

State/Local Govt Agency

Other

Private Employer

 Case Filings by Agency Processor 

Processor Number of Cases

Iowa Civil Rights Commission 1697

Davenport Civil Rights Commission 100

Waterloo Commission on Human Rights 92

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 57

Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission 51

Mason City Human Rights Commission 45

Iowa City Human Rights Commission 37

Des Moines Human Rights Commission 34

Council Bluffs Civil Rights Commission 28

Dubuque Human Rights Commission 24

Fort Dodge Human Rights Commission 13

Sioux City Human Rights Commission 8

Cedar Falls Human Rights Commission 8

Clinton Human Rights Commission 2

Ft. Madison Human Rights Commission 1

TOTAL 2197

Filings by County

County Number of cases

Polk 531

Scott 209

Black Hawk 182

Linn 175

Johnson 106

Pottawattamie 75

Woodbury 74

Cerro Gordo 64

Dubuque 55

Des Moines 45

Story 40

Clinton 38

Marshall, Muscatine 33

Webster 31

Wapello 27

Lee 25

Jasper 21

Dallas, Louisa, Marion 16

Buena Vista, Page, Union 15

Bremer, Poweshiek 14

Dickinson 13

Henry, Winnebago 12

Iowa 11

Crawford, Sioux 10

Fayette, Hardin, Winneshiek 9

Boone, Jefferson, Jones 8

Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clay, Hancock, Kossuth, Warren, Washington 7

Appanoose, Benton, Cedar, Clarke, Montgomery 6

Emmet, Mitchell, Plymouth, Tama 5

Carroll, Cass, Clayton, Delaware, Hamilton, Harrison, Howard, Mills, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Taylor 4

Davis, Decatur, Floyd, Humboldt, Jackson, Mahaska, O’Brien, Shelby 3

Adams, Cherokee, Franklin, Greene, Keokuk, Lucas, Madison, Worth, Wright 2

Allamakee, Audubon, Guthrie, Ida, Lyon, Monona, Osceola 1

Adair, Butler, Calhoun, Fremont, Grundy, Monroe, Ringgold, Sac, Van Buren, Wayne 0

TOTAL 2197

11 513

10 73

7

12 25 4 9

1

4

5

64 3 7

2 2 2 0

74 1 0

1

9 4

0415

6

4 5

90 182

3

10

0

4

75

4

38

68

55

14

47

0

7

1611

3

2

60

6

3

204

152

209

33

106

716

4512

25

270 8

2316

531

40 33

21 14

3

6

11

175

4

310

2 8

4

7

15

3

Filings by County

Filings by Incident

Type of Incident Number of Cases*

Terms and Conditions 1196

Discharge 1094

Harassment 586

Reasonable Accommodation 543

Discipline 249

Sexual Harassment 228

Constructive Discharge 191

Other 180

Hiring 176

Wages 127

Suspension 111

Promotion 110

Demotion 84

Layoff 82

Training 64

Union 6

Benefits 4

Reinstatement 4

Benefits – Retirement 3

Benefitss - Insurance 3

Exclusion, Severance Pay Denied, Job Classification, Paternity, Referral, Involuntary Retirement, and Tenure

1 each

* More than one incident can be alleged in each case

Case Resolutions by Type

1 3 4 5 814

45

203242

300404

968

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Closed at Hearing (1)No Jurisdiction (3)Proceed to Public Hearing (4)Prob. Cause/No Prob. Cause (5)Succesfully Conciliated (8)Probable Cause (14)Withdrawal (45)No Probable Cause (203)Rights-to-sue (242)Settlement/mediation (300)Adminstrative closure (404)Screening closure - no merit (968)

Educational Resources

• The Commission’s educational programs are designed to inform people about their rights under the law, and to inform businesses, landlords, and other organizations how to conduct their operations in accordance with the law.

• Staff are available, upon request, to conduct public speaking engagements, workshops, classes, and other events. This fiscal year, staff participated in 212 events, reaching 5,945 participants. The most requested topics through the year were for programs on harassment and diversity issues. The Iowa Communications Network (ICN) enabled the team to do distance learning to other ICN locations.

• The citizens of Iowa continued to use the video lending library offered by the Commission. New titles were added to the video lending library. There were 187 uses of the videos by staff and by citizen requests.

• The public called the Commission for information 1,690 times during the year. These non-complaint-related calls came from employers, employees, renters, attorneys and others who wanted to know about civil rights and discrimination. Calls and presentations, resulted in 13,600 materials being distributed. This year there were over 70,000 visits per month to the Commission’s web site (www.state.ia.us/government/crc). The Iowa Civil Rights Commission also continued to co-sponsor the I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa celebration, held this fiscal year on Saturday, January 26, 2002. This year there were between 2000 and 3000 people attending.

• The Educational Resources Team not only plans and implements the education and outreach activities of the Commission, it is also responsible for the coordination of Accountable Government requirements and agency evaluation processes; implementation of the Iowa Excellence Program; the writing and administration of grants; the coordination of special projects; the production, updating, and dissemination of educational materials; the administration of the internal and external educational materials lending libraries; and the scheduling of ICN (Iowa Communication Network) events.

Budget

Agency Funding

The total funding for the Iowa Civil Rights Commission for FY 2002 was $2,378,846. The sources of the funds were the State General Fund ($1,063,292), Training and Technology funds ($1,590), complaint processing contracts and grants (EEOC $1,079,250 and HUD $212,060), an immigration education grant from the U.S. Department of Justice ($4,948) and from reimbursements for copying and civil rights complaint audits ($17,706).

Commissioners

• David Leshtz, chair

Iowa City

Appointed May 1999

• Alicia Claypool, vice-chair

Des Moines

Appointed May 1999

• Constance Gronstal

Council Bluffs

Appointed April 2001

 

• Rachel Scherle

Henderson/Iowa City

Appointed May 1999

• Dr. Gilberto Solivan

Mason City

Appointed April 2001

• Timothy Tutt

Des Moines

Appointed April 2001

• María Waterman

Pleasant Valley

Appointed April 2001