NEXT STEPS...
J U N E
2 0 1 5
Over the next three months, a series of hearings with state workers will be
scheduled statewide and meetings with state officials coordinated to examine
labor practices, investigate complaints and gather documentation. The committee on racism in state government will put forth policy recommendations
for systemic and institutional change and the committee will monitor the
implementation process and progress of administrative and policy changes
within state government.
Call To Action!
Because we believe structural racism exists within Delaware state government we are
calling on Delaware’s leadership, the General Assembly,
Labor Relations Committee Chairs, Joint Finance Committee Chairs, Delaware Black Caucus and the Delaware
Congressional Delegation to help lead the charge and work
with us to fully investigate, examine and address our list of
concerns.
We are calling on the Governor’s Office to be transparent
and cooperative so that we may work together to effectuate institutional and
systemic change for the benefit of all of Delaware’s state employees and citizenry.
P R E L I M I N A R Y
BRIEFING REPORT
Delaware’s Concerned Clergy & African American Leadership
Speak Out Against Racist Practices at the State of Delaware
It is more than 50 years since the signing
b a c k g r o u n d I n f o r m at i o n :
of the Civil Rights
Act, which outlawed
discrimination in employment on the
basis
of
race,
creed, or national
origin, and we need
to be vigilant as
faith
and
com-
munity leaders to
ensure that vestiges of racism and other forms
of discrimination do not persist.
The State is the largest employer in
Delaware with more than 17,000 employees.
African Americans make up about 29% of the
State’s employees, yet they are underrepresented in every department in upper management and executive positions. This fact alone
not only suggests a kind of discriminatory
glass ceiling in the hiring of African Americans,
but it provides a limited perspective in service as
we work for Delaware’s citizens.
We want to be certain that African American
employees of the State of Delaware, as well as
others, can do their jobs free of discrimination.
We are very concerned for the citizenry
of the State of Delaware because if there is
The Interdenominational Ministers Action Council (IMAC) &
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) DE leadership have been conducting personal
interviews with former and current state employees. We have
compiled a sampling of complaints registered by employees
from several state department agencies across the state.
Interviews with state employees revealed that state
employees have been subjected to blatant examples of
racism, discrimination, harassment, intimidation, bigotry
and sexism in promotions, reclassifications, evaluations,
disciplinary actions and every day treatment by fellow
employees, supervision and the department heads.
African Americans have been overlooked for promotions,
disciplined more severely for infractions, and subjected
to working in hostile work environments. Quite often
African American employees are reluctant to file a grievance because the state’s grievance procedures often ends
in an unfavorable ruling or findings of “no discrimination”
and while filing a complaint with the Philadelphia EEOC
office is an option it is a difficult and sometimes costly
process to navigate. There are documented complaints
of racial discrimination and retaliation which were filed
with union representatives, the Delaware Department of
Labor and the Philadelphia EEOC office however, we
believe there are numerous undocumented complaints
because of the aforementioned reasons.
After listening to state employees, we realized that a
pattern of discrimination, retaliation and other adverse
actions were the normal response to inquiries and
grievances about inequities in the workplace. IMAC and
the DE NAACP have come together to announce the
formation of a Committee on Racism in State
Government to further investigate the claims of discrimination and unfair treatment within the workplace.
Here are the facts:
Governor Jack Markell issued Executive Order Eight in
2009, his first year in office, affirming his administration’s commitment to equal employment opportunity
and directing heads of each Department and Agency
within the Executive Branch to pursue diligently the
recruitment and promotion of qualified applicants from
diverse backgrounds and to be vigilant in complying with
the laws prohibiting discrimination in employment.
Six years later we ask “What has been the result of
this Executive Order?” We have not seen a significant
improvement. The Governor’s Equal Employment
Opportunity Council meets monthly to review plans and
reports; to discuss issues related to equal employment
and affirmative action however the evidence strongly
suggests that African American employees are still
subjected to discrimination and institutional racism,
and they remain underrepresented in upper management
positions in every state department.
Because of this, we are calling for an investigation.
We are requesting a thorough review of state department
employment and labor practices, beginning with the
Delaware Department of Labor.
Our first area of concern is the Delaware Department
of Labor (DOL) because it is the agency tasked with
enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, yet there
are numerous allegations that DOL leadership and the
administration has discriminated against African American
employees and engages in unfair labor practices. We
have serious concerns about the DOL leadership and
administration.
discrimination in labor practices, it would
stand to reason that there are discriminatory
practices in the work carried out on behalf of
the citizens of Delaware.
If the agency (Delaware DOL) responsible for monitoring discriminatory practices in the workplace
is engaging in discriminatory and racist acts, how can this agency be trusted to monitor, evaluate
and properly address complaints from other employees, departments and employers?
We have outlined several areas of concern and we recognize that this review process will take time however we
are determined to move swiftly. We know that we must
closely examine every state department in order to
facilitate systemic change.
So what is our approach?...
The Committee on Racism in State Government
will work alongside state legislators, state officials and
state employees to examine, investigate and develop
solutions to address these issues.
The Committee on Racism in State Government
has been established for the following reasons:
1. To gather additional information, testimony, evidence and
documentation in support of charges that racism exists in
epidemic proportions in state government.
2. To identify the levels of racism, discrimination, bigotry, and
harassment in state employment and investigate how it
has been nurtured and manifested into an institutionalized
and accepted mode of operandi.
3. Establish immediate, short and long range goals to remove all
spectrums of racism and discrimination in state employment.
4. Propose legislation and policy changes that will effectively
eradicate all instances of racism and or discrimination
by penalizing individual employees and departments that
practice, condone and support intolerant behavior.