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Changes in types of employment-related inquiries and impact of new laws

0:37:52

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Council Member Williams inquires about changes in the types of employment-related inquiries received by CCHR over recent years and the impact of new laws on discrimination complaints and public awareness. Deputy Commissioner Carroll discusses trends and the effect of legislative changes.

Disability and retaliation remain the top two categories for employment complaints
Amendments to the Fair Chance Act led to an uptick in inquiries related to conviction and arrest records
Recent focus on salary transparency due to new legislation
New laws often lead to an adjustment period as people become aware of new protections or requirements
CCHR's hotline staff provide education to callers about whether their experiences may constitute a valid claim under the statute

Nantasha M. Williams

0:37:52

Yeah.

0:37:52

I did, like, some testing, source of income testing, and it was really hard because no one really answered.

0:38:00

So, yeah, that makes sense.

0:38:03

So I wanna turn some of my questions to trends and employment related complaints.

0:38:08

So with f y 24 as the exception, the commission has received a surprisingly consistent number of employment related inquiries across the last 5 to 7 years, usually upwards of 1500 inquiries.

0:38:21

Yet CCHR's jurisdiction over different types of discrimination in the workplace and the categories of people who benefit from anti discrimination protections in the workplace have increased significantly in those years.

0:38:34

How have the types of inquiries received by the commission changed over recent years, and how have they remained consistent?

Katherine Carroll

0:38:43

So in terms of complaints that we filed, we've we've remained consistent with disability and retaliation being the top 2 in employment.

0:38:51

However, in the last 5 years with the amendments to the statute first amending the fair chance provisions, we saw an uptick in inquiries related to conviction record and arrest record.

0:39:02

And then, similarly, in the last 2 years, we've seen an uptick or we've seen salary transparency be at the forefront because it was the most recent amendment is our assumption.

Nantasha M. Williams

0:39:12

Yeah.

0:39:12

So is it fair to say that, that when we pass these laws, it's, like, maybe, like, an adjustment period of people realizing that this is a particular protection or a particular thing that they have to do in the cases?

0:39:26

Salary transparency, it's like an action.

0:39:29

Like, when they post a job description, it has to have a range.

0:39:32

But, like so do you think it's just just just a a case of, like, people getting acclimated to the law and it, like, tapers off?

Katherine Carroll

0:39:41

I think that there's also a learning curve on members of the public about what states a complaint or a claim that we can actually file as opposed to, what feels like might be discrimination.

0:39:54

So our inquiry stage, you know, we really encourage members of the public to reach out to us whenever they feel they've been discriminated against so that we're not creating a barrier to them coming to us.

0:40:04

And then we have the conversation with them to analyze whether it falls under our statute.

0:40:08

And I think when there are, there's publicity about bills, but maybe not about the full detail of them.

0:40:14

We get a lot of inquiries and then our hotline staff are doing some of that 1 on 1 education as they're explaining to people who call who think they've been discriminated against whether they may or may not state a claim.

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Factors determining the number and types of tests conducted by CCHR

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Recent important developments in employment-related discrimination inquiries and complaints