CO AL IT ION

OF

Asian Pacific State Employees Association Black Advocates in State Service LULAC Lorenzo Patio Council of Sacramento

Association of California State Employees with Disabilities CAF de California - Chicano Latino State Employees Association

COALITION TESTIMONY Before the FAIR EMPLOYMENT AND HOUSING COUNCIL December 10, 2013 State Capitol, Room 127 Chair Chaya Mandelbaum and Councilmembers Dale Brodsky, Chanee Franklin Minor, Patricia Perez, Andrew Schneiderman, and DFEH Director Phyllis Cheng. My name is Alfonso Ramirez from LULAC, and next to me is Dean Lan from the Asian Pacific State Employees Association. We are here today representing the Coalition of the State Employee Advocate Groups and Organizations: Association of CA State Employees with Disabilities (ACSED) Caf de California Chicano Latino State Employees Association (CAF) Asian Pacific State Employees Association (APSEA) Black Advocates in State Service (BASS), and LULAC Lorenzo Patio Council of Sacramento

Thank you for allowing the Coalition the opportunity to speak before you at your quarterly Council meeting.

The Lorenzo Patio Council is a chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which was founded in 1929 and is the oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. ACSED, CAF, APSEA, and BASS were established in the 1970s to specifically represent State employees and are registered with the Department of Human Resources (CalHR), as State recognized Bona Fide Associations. This allows payroll deductions from its members through the State Controllers Office.

Coalition Testimony Fair Employment and Housing Council December 10, 2013 Page 2

The Coalitions mission is to preserve and strengthen Equal Employment Opportunity, effective human resources policies, civil rights, diversity and inclusion in State Government and reaffirm the principles of the merit system in the State civil service.

In 2012, the Coalition met with Director Phyllis Cheng and Chief Annamarie Billotti on two occasions. We discussed the possibility of DFEH creating a system for State EEO Officers to electronically self-report data to the department on internal EEO complaints. DFEH explained that it was unable to commit in providing this service by adding this function to its case management system as a modification because it did not know if it would jeopardize its formal complaint process and the integrity of its formal complaint data. We also discussed the generation of a yearly report for posting on its Web site that contains information on state discrimination complaints. To address these on-going issues, the Coalition requests a meeting with DFEH in early 2014 to explore the feasibility of developing and implementing these important tools and data sources in the state discrimination system.

Lastly, weve been informed that there are problems with several of the discrimination complaints filed by state employees through the DFEHs on line system. We have received input from state departments that there has been a marked decrease in the quality of the complaints sent from DFEH to state departments. Many of the complaints have not been clear and have not stated a prima facie case of alleged discrimination. To address this issue, the Coalition requests that DFEH hold a training forum focused on resolving this statewide issue. The Coalition is willing to assist DFEH with this effort.

Finally, we wish to mention that, in June of 2013, the Coalition hosted an EEO Conference titled New Beginnings: Diversity and Inclusion, Equal Employment Opportunity Rules, Rights and Responsibilities 2013 and Beyond. The Coalition would like to express its appreciation

Coalition Testimony Fair Employment and Housing Council December 10, 2013 Page 3 to Director Cheng for speaking at the workshop on Equal Employment Opportunity Legal Updates. Going forward, the Coalition would like to see a continuing working relationship with DFEH to resolve existing issues and work to prevent new issues in the future.

We are available to answer any questions you have regarding the Coalitions concerns or requests.

Carl McLaney, President On behalf of Black Advocates in State Service www.blackadvocates.org

Dean Lan, Senior Advisor On behalf of Asian Pacific State Employees Association www.apsea.org

Jake Johnson, President On behalf of Association of California State Employees with Disabilities www.ACSEDonline.org

Robin Corralejo, President On behalf of League of United Latin American Citizens Lorenzo Patio Council of Sacramento www.sacramentolulac.org

Neptaly Aguilera, President On behalf of Caf de California Chicano Latino State Employees Association