Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The EEOC does not answer complaints that are filed by people who have suffered from racial discrimination," said the Rev. Charles Green, president of the Roanoke branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "We have to get the Justice Department back in action and let them do the job they were assigned to do."
To make its point, the NAACP organized an all-day session at the Staunton Avenue Church of God between representatives from Sen. Charles Robb's office and local citizens who have cases pending before the EEOC. More than 45 people attended Monday's session, which was closed to reporters, to voice their concerns that racial, age and gender discrimination in Roanoke is being ignored by the federal civil rights agency.
At least 80 Roanoke-based discrimination cases have been filed with the EEOC in the past 19 months, said Henry Craighead, chairman of the NAACP's labor and industry committee.
One of three things usually happens to those cases, NAACP leaders said: They are dragged out until frustrated complainants give up, they disappear altogether or they are dismissed without cause.
"The EEOC calls the company, and the company says the employee is lying, so they dismiss the case. They don't look into it more than that," Craighead said. "I don't know anyone who has won a case here in Roanoke. The EEOC isn't doing its job. They are in favor of the employer now."
Last April, the NAACP invited four regional EEOC officials to Roanoke to hear complaints. More than 60 Roanoke workers attended, but little progress has been made since then, Green said.
"All we got was talk," Green said. "No action whatsoever was taken to help these people."
EEOC officials said they are in a difficult position, grappling with increased caseloads and responsibilities without an increase in staff and other resources. During fiscal year 1988, 2,227 discrimination complaints were filed with the EEOC in Virginia. In fiscal year 1994, the agency logged 3,348.
For the third year in a row, the federal agency received a record number of charges alleging job bias, increasing the number of cases awaiting investigation nationally to nearly 97,000, EEOC spokesman Michael Widomski said.
"In fact, there is a huge backlog, and it is not just Virginia. It's nationwide," Widomski said. "The problems you are seeing there are mirrored in other states as well."
A new EEOC chairman, Gilbert Casellas, took office Oct. 3 and immediately established task forces to reduce the pending-charges inventory and make the agency operate more effectively, Widomski said. The task forces will make suggestions within three months.
But local NAACP president Green said the numbers are rooted in a larger, political problem.
"There is a reason they are dealing with that backlog, and it started under Presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan," Green said. "The plan of the Republican Party is to to disassemble this part of the Justice Department, so they don't get any resources."
He expects Robb to help turn the situation around - at least locally.
"He's our senator. We are dependent upon him," Green said. "This was one of the things he promised in the campaign."
Two representatives from Robb's office attended Monday's session and will report back to the senator.
"We're here to listen to the concerns and issues of the people," said Rich Williams, Robb's director of community relations. "Then we'll figure out what we can do to expedite the process."
by CNB