Q&A
Council Member Rita C. Joseph questions CCHR on staffing and case resolution timelines
0:57:18
·
3 min
Council Member Rita C. Joseph inquires about the NYC Commission on Human Rights' (CCHR) staffing capacity, vacancy breakdown, and the impact on case investigations and closures. CCHR representatives discuss their efforts to staff up, current workforce, and the average time to resolve cases.
- CCHR reports progress in staffing the law enforcement bureau, with about 50 staff members
- The average time to close a case is approximately two and a half years
- CCHR acknowledges that more resources could enhance their ability to initiate cases and address systemic issues
Rita C. Joseph
0:57:18
Thank you.
0:57:18
Thank you for being here.
0:57:20
Just a quick question around, capacity.
0:57:24
As of yesterday, there was about 27 vacancies with CCHR, 15 of which are in the law enforcement.
0:57:29
What is the breakdown of vacancies by position and department?
0:57:33
How does the vacancy impact, LEB's ability to investigate and close cases?
0:57:38
Do you have a timeline as to when you plan on filling those positions?
0:57:42
Because that work has to get done in order for all of that we're talking about needs to happen.
JoAnn Kamuf Ward
0:57:48
Yeah.
0:57:48
I'm gonna start with the the good news.
0:57:51
Alright.
0:57:52
So I think, the the something that this commissioner has been committed to is, staffing up the law enforcement bureau, and we're making progress on that front.
0:58:04
I think, the law enforcement bureau today has, I wanna say, 50 very close to 50 staff members, which is, an increase from where we have we have been.
0:58:15
I I will also say that even before that number, and this is what I said already, to, Council Member Fradias' question, I think our staff works incredibly hard, and is truly committed to the mission of the agency, which makes it an amazing place to work, but also means that we are are doing everything in our power to achieve the mandate on on a daily basis.
0:58:42
So I I think there's not a direct one, one to one correlation between staffing or vacancy numbers and the the number of, complaints that we are able able to file.
0:58:54
But, you know, as I said, we can do more with more, and we appreciate the support of this this committee, and and counsel on, and and look forward to talking about that in budget negotiations.
0:59:08
As for the hiring timeline, we are looking at applications all the time and operating, in the space where we, are working with OMB OMB to fill the vacancies as as quickly as we can.
Rita C. Joseph
0:59:23
Does that hinder the work that you do because there's a lack of staffers?
0:59:27
I know we could do more with more.
0:59:28
I know.
0:59:30
So does that hinder any of the cases, and how fast if you had more, how how quickly can you close the case?
JoAnn Kamuf Ward
0:59:37
I'm gonna defer to my my colleague on how quickly.
0:59:40
I think, one thing I will say is because we are an an agency that is a file as a right agency, we take every case that comes to us.
0:59:49
If people, want to file a complaint that is filed, an area where there could, I think, be growth is in our commission initiated work.
0:59:57
And we thank I think people in this room, for, using City of Yes as an opportunity to potentially grow that area of commission staff, and I think that that will have a great impact on New Yorkers.
Katherine Carroll
1:00:12
I would agree and and echo my colleagues' statements.
1:00:15
A lot of our process requires cooperation from both sides, and there's not a lot no matter how much staff we can do, that we can get folks who don't wanna work with us to work with us.
1:00:27
So it really does allow us to look at more systemic problems from an agency perspective rather than having to focus solely or mostly on, the cases that have come to us by the public because that is our our underlying mandate.
Rita C. Joseph
1:00:41
How long does it take from the beginning to the end to close a case?
Katherine Carroll
1:00:45
Our our current average is just around two and a half years.
Rita C. Joseph
1:00:50
Two and a half years.
1:00:51
And how many, you didn't answer my second part of the question.
1:00:55
What is the breakdown of vacancies by position and departments?
JoAnn Kamuf Ward
1:00:59
Yeah.
1:00:59
So I don't have that information today, so we're happy to follow-up with that.
Rita C. Joseph
1:01:02
Back to us?
1:01:02
Yep.
1:01:03
Okay.
1:01:03
Thank you.
1:01:04
Thank you, chair.
