Transcripts

text | pdf |

---

CHRIS ROBERTS: If there is anybody who has lit a fire under the State Department of Human rights, it's former enforcement officer Ted Johnson. When six waitresses filed sex discrimination charges against the now defunct Jose's Restaurant in Minneapolis, Johnson was the investigator. The Department is required by law to issue findings of discrimination within 12 months after a complaint is filed. It took five years before an administrative law judge ruled in favor of the waitresses and awarded them a total of more than $75,000.

But because it took so long to process the case, it was thrown out by the Court of Appeals. Ted Johnson.

TED JOHNSON: I truly believe, and I think that the Jose's case is a very apt example that the Department has gotten into a situation where instead of providing a public service to citizens, it is providing a disservice. And it is, in fact, revictimizing individuals who have been victimized by discrimination.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Johnson quit the Department in good standing more than a year ago because of his frustration. In fact, he says, there's been an exodus of investigators, 13 in all, who have left during Commissioner David Beaulieu's four year tenure and haven't been replaced. He says under Beaulieu, the agency has become top-heavy with administrators and has lost its way in terms of enforcing human rights laws.

TED JOHNSON: During that period, the Department has received the same amount of money roughly during that period. With that money, the Department has halved the investigative staff, has doubled the administrative staff, has tripled the case load for the investigators. The average cost per investigation has increased by 50%, and the number of probable cause cases coming out of the Department has decreased by over 50% in five years.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Probable cause, meaning cases where discrimination has likely occurred. Johnson also charges that investigators are sometimes pressured to steer away from complicated discrimination cases and pursue those which are easier to close to improve the department's record.

TED JOHNSON: That's backwards. The Department is, by law and by logic, supposed to prioritize the processing of cases where discrimination has most likely occurred. The reality is that the Department, by practice, does the opposite.

DAVID BEAULIEU: It sounds like they're like Chicken Little.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Human Rights Commissioner David Beaulieu.

DAVID BEAULIEU: I mean, these are individuals that left the Department and have no idea what we've done with our case loads. And, you know, their sort of sense of impending doom is just not there.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Beaulieu was appointed by Governor Carlson in 1991 to replace Frank Gallegos, who was accused of misusing state funds. Beaulieu says he inherited a department that was an organizational mess with an antiquated computer system. Under his leadership, Beaulieu says, the Department has improved the quality of investigations, shortened their time, and instituted new standards that result in early dismissal of weaker cases.

He argues that he's actually reduced management staff by four people, and he says the number of investigators has gone down, but not as much as Ted Johnson alleges. More important, says Beaulieu, is the Department's steady record of ensuring positive outcomes for people who file complaints.

DAVID BEAULIEU: It includes probable causes. It includes settlements. It includes successful litigations, et cetera, some result which has a positive outcome for a charging party. And that's remained approximately 25% of our case load each and every year since the beginning. That's never changed.

CHRIS ROBERTS: But department records do indicate that probable cause determinations have steadily declined from 1989, when 214 findings were issued, to just 87 in 1994. Ted Johnson says during that time, the state's Human Rights Act was amended to include sexual orientation, and the Americans with Disabilities Act was implemented, which should mean more findings of discrimination, as should the Department's new tighter standards.

Members of the Carlson administration say Commissioner Beaulieu shouldn't be blamed for a department that's had a decades-long history of problems. [? Maury ?] Anderson, the governor's chief of staff, says Beaulieu has made some positive strides.

[? MAURY ANDERSON: ?] He took and upgraded the investigative process. He has a strategic plan in place. He has attempted and is attempting to make some changes in terms of the organizational structure. And in a number of cases, I think the cases that have been cleared and settled, the track record has been pretty good on a lot of them.

Now, can we do a better job? Sure. I think David has admitted that.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Anderson says the governor has sent a Department of administration official over to Human Rights to help Beaulieu organizationally and is considering appointing a citizens group to help oversee the Department. The legislature has approved money to upgrade the computer system. The Department is also faced with repairing a damaged reputation amongst people who rely on it. Several minority leaders have publicly stated their loss of faith in the agency.

Linda Miller, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association, says at one time the Department acted as enforcer of human rights. Miller says that's no longer true.

LINDA MILLER: They're not gung ho in enforcing the law.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Some lawmakers are also frustrated with their own access to accurate information from the Department. DFL Senator Ellen Anderson from St. Paul has been following the legislative auditor's examination.

ELLEN ANDERSON: And they have indicated that, from just from preliminary looks at Department files, that the Department is not giving us adequate information to explain what is happening to their cases.

CHRIS ROBERTS: This past session, Anderson proposed that the Human Rights Department be rolled into the attorney general's office. She later acknowledged that was a bad idea. Anderson now cautions against moving to eliminate or downsize the Department because of its troubles, which she contends is the automatic response these days.

ELLEN ANDERSON: It may be that they need more funding to do their job, and it may be that the management is not effective. But that's not something we can control. We can control how the money is spent and how much money there is.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Former investigator Ted Johnson, who was still unemployed a year after leaving the Department and whose wife still works as an investigator there, warns that there will be more cases like Jose's down the road if the appellate ruling holds. Johnson says records he obtained indicate there are dozens more cases that have been held up too long in the Department.

TED JOHNSON: Conservatively, we may see at least 50 and more likely 100 cases, 100 more cases thrown out, cases where probable cause has been found by the Department, not just any old case, but cases where the Department has found discrimination based on their investigation.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Commissioner Bolio counters that he has set up an alternative resolution project to settle a large portion of those cases. And at this point, he says, let the legislative auditor's office do its job.

BOLIO: I think that people should wait to see what the results of that audit is before they begin to create statistics and numbers and try to convince the world that we're tumbling.

CHRIS ROBERTS: The legislative auditor's office expects to complete its evaluation by early January, in time for the 96th legislative session. For the FM news station, this is Chris Roberts.