Taking a New Look at Discrimination in New York
Last month, New York City paid $ 21 million for the settlement of collective action based on race procedures for employment in the city of division of parks and recreation. At the time of application, more than nine out of ten employees of the park at less than $ 20000 per year were black or Latino, while only 14 perent, to $ 50000 $ 60000 were black or Latino. If the Bloomberg administration agreed on the solution, but he said he is not, and non-discriminatory.
Earlier this month, Senator Barack Obama has asked an honest and open measures to cope with inequality and, in this sense, it is time for New York City’s government to examine its own approach to Practice . Instead of curbing civil servants and categorically that the city is not discrimination, which is, if politicians, lawyers and people in the head on the issue and agreed that the policy of other races and the differences between the sexes - voluntarily or not - are not acceptable?
This is the approach of human rights in the government of the Law on Audit Operations (Human Rights GOAL), was launched earlier this month by Councilmembers Helen Foster and Darlene Mealy. This measure would bring us closer to real equality of opportunity for all New Yorkers.
To uphold non-discrimination, human rights would GOAL three things:
– Track, as its impact on the population policy
– Remedy disparities, as they arise, and not wait a lawsuit against them, and
– Close the persons concerned and marginalized population groups in the implementation of the law.
While New York City has declared a policy of non-discrimination, it does not have the tools needed to determine whether the policy has been respected. No standard mechanism is to know when and for how government policies are disparate negative impact on the historically marginalized groups. And beyond the random audit by the Equal Employment Practices Commission, the only means of political discrimination will be corrected if people undertake lengthy and expensive litigation - as the damage has been done.
The appeal by the Department of Parks in a few weeks, for example, has perhaps prevented if GOAL Human Rights was indeed. The appeal, and until 1999, it was more than 3000 employees black and Hispanic, which is responsible, that the department had about the promotion for staff, and she knows less paid.
After 14 months of negotiations, the Bloomberg administration agreed to pay more than $ 21 million and “great changes in certain conduct of its staff.” However, the city staff and resources for the defence of the Division of parks in this process — and fear suffered by victims of discrimination - a price much higher than the amount indicated in urbanization. And the open-ended promises and to prevent changes never something like this may be happening again met only if there’s a concrete plan.
Explicites discrimination can now less often, when he was past, but, like Obama, in his speech, discrimination persisted in the measures apparently neutral, the obstacles to gender equality.