Unequal justice for all: EEOC director fighting a rising tide.

EEOC director fighting a rising tide

Gilbert F. Casellas learned the meaning of discrimination at an early age, probably before he could even spell it. As a child in Tampa, Fla., there were certain places he couldn't go because of his brown skin, like the local boys' club or the "whites only" sections of the beach. When he reached adolescence things began to change. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, schools began to desegregate and Casellas could now go to the downtown movie theater.

More than 30 years later, however, as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Casellas is finding out that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

As the chief enforcer of anti-discrimination laws, the EEOC must identify and eliminate workplace discrimination, a task easier said than done. Casellas chaired a recent EEOC meeting in Washington, where he revealed that the commission had received 87,600 charges of discrimination in 1995, an increase of about 42% from 1990. This figure includes a backlog of cases. Almost 30,000 were based on race, 88% of which were filed by African Americans. So while Republicans on Capitol Hill fantasize about a color-blind society, the commission knows better: workplace discrimination continues to be epidemic.

"The data refutes the assumption that discrimination has been eliminated," says Casellas. The EEOC has developed a hospital approach to wiping out its growing caseload. Based in theory on emergency-room triage, cases are prioritized in order of importance. But like the average city hospital, the understaffed commission must operate under budgetary constraints. Congress appropriated $235 million for 1996, down $2 million from last year, meaning the EEOC has to revamp its attack strategy. "We made a choice to go after the kind of cases where we'll have the most impact and maximize our resources by addressing the ones that have an impact beyond an individual's satisfaction," says Casellas.

This strategy may only be a band-aid on what could soon become a gouging wound now that Congress is considering legislation to eliminate affirmative action programs. A proposed bill by presidential hopeful Bob Dole and Rep. Charles Canady (R-Fla.), which would outlaw race- and sex-based remedies in hiring, is primarily directed at federal employment. However, Casellas shudders to think of the trickle-down effect that it may have on the private sector companies, which are the major source of complaints. "I think the real question is what will the workplace look like five years from now if that bill is in place. If you talk to advocacy groups, they say the federal government isn't doing enough to recruit, hire and promote minorities in its workforce. Five years from now, if we're not allowed to measure our successes, you've got to conclude that it's going to be worse," Casellas says. And he's concerned that the cuts might validate the kinds of rollbacks that some have sought in the private sector.

Whether or not the bill passes, Casellas observes, "I think we will inevitably be unpopular because whenever you challenge a practice or pattern of discrimination, somebody's going to be unhappy. And sometimes those people who are unhappy are influential and powerful."

RELATED ARTICLE: COMPLAINTS WITH THE EEOC

TOTAL
Charges      1991     1992     1993     1994    1995(*)
Race        27,525   29,042   31,688   31,656   29,986
            43.1%    40.3%    36.0%    34.8%    34.3%
Sex         17,422   21,482   23,905   25,860   26,181
            27.3%    29.8%    27.2%    28.4%    29.9%
National
Origin       6,418    7,126    7,393    7,414    7,035
            10.1%     9.9%     8.4%     8.1%     8.0%
Religion     1,160    1,337    1,444    1,546    1,581
             1.8%     1.9%     1.6%     1.7%     1.8%

(*) Preliminary data

Source: US equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington, 1996