Kevin Kish
Dear CELA members:
2016 was a year of change at the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and 2017 will be no different. I want to give CELA members a view into the Department and a brief update on where we’re headed.
As always, the core of our work remains the investigation, mediation, and prosecution of civil rights complaints. In the employment context, our legal team filed or resolved lawsuits in 2016 that run the gamut of FEHA violations, including cases alleging discrimination on the basis of disability (the most commonly cited basis of discrimination in recent years), national origin, race, religion (including religious dress practices), sexual orientation, and pregnancy. Sexual harassment cases remain prevalent across industries and economic sectors, from low-wage workplaces to large national employers. Our 2016 sexual harassment cases involved industries including personal training, mobile home park management, trucking, restaurants, and farm work, among others.
This work is impacted by several internal developments. First, the makeup of our staff is changing rapidly. In January 2016, we employed 34 full-time employment discrimination investigators. In January 2017, we employed 50 employment investigators, and we’re still hiring for open positions. (Know anyone interested? Visit www.dfeh.ca.gov/jobs/). But this increase doesn’t tell the whole story. Of the 50 employment investigators on staff today, 25 were hired within the last year, and an additional 6 were hired since I joined the DFEH two years ago. In other words, 62% of the investigators working on your cases have been doing this work for two years or less, and half have less than a year’s experience.
Another reality is that over 40% of DFEH employees are currently eligible for retirement. This is a demographic wave that is cresting across state government, and it presents both opportunities and challenges.
Nothing matters more to the quality of our investigations than the people we hire and how we train them. To attract a broad and diverse applicant pool, we have changed our job classifications within the state service system to reduce barriers to entry, and we have significantly expanded our hiring outreach efforts to actively recruit candidates seeking careers in civil rights enforcement.
We have also created a permanent internal training unit staffed with two full-time employees who run an intensive two-week “academy” for all new investigators. This team also plans and coordinates trainings for all employees. Over the coming year, you will hear from them as they solicit ideas and guest speakers for trainings. We are also experimenting with different ways of increasing collaboration and learning between and among our investigators and our legal team. Most recently, we have launched “pod” case reviews, where teams of investigators meet regularly with legal staff to discuss legal theories and plan investigations in live cases.
More broadly, we completed in 2016 a comprehensive strategic plan (http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/strategic-plan/) to guide our efforts and priorities in 2017 and beyond. Increased accessibility for – and outreach to – people with disabilities and people with limited English proficiency are at the heart of the plan. With the help of experts, we have completed top-to-bottom assessments of our own systems, functions, and materials, and embarked on significant changes. Some of the visible effects of this process include our completely redesigned website, expanded and revised FAQs (including comprehensive Spanish-language FAQs), and an ongoing redesign of all of our outreach materials.
Major changes in 2017 include accepting and investigating complaints brought under our new authority to enforce California’s Human Trafficking Victims Protection Act (Civil Code section 51.5) and under Government Code section 11135, which prohibits all forms of discrimination in government-funded activities and programs. Our proposed amendments to DFEH procedural regulations are out for public comment due April 24, 2017. And we will be working with the Fair Employment and Housing Council to move forward various rulemaking actions over the course of the year.
Last, but certainly not least, the upcoming launch of our new online case filing and case management system is no doubt of highest interest to CELA members. This new system, called the California Civil Rights System (CCRS), will replace Houdini. In April, we will invite CELA and other stakeholders to preview and provide feedback on the public portal. For external users, the new system will include online tracking of case progress, the ability to upload documents directly into the case file, and eventually an online appointment system for scheduling initial interviews.
As always, I welcome your ideas, comments, suggestions – and yes, complaints – as we do our work.
Kevin Kish, a former CELA member, was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on December 29, 2014, to be director of California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), the largest state civil rights agency in the nation. Kish was previously with Bet Tzedek Legal Services in Los Angeles. As director of the firm’s Employment Rights Project, Kish led the firm’s employment litigation, policy, and outreach initiatives. His cases focused on combatting violations of minimum labor standards in low-wage industries and human trafficking for forced labor. He led trial and appellate teams in employment and trafficking suits, including prevailing in the first civil case to reach a jury verdict under the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act. A graduate of Yale Law School, Kish developed and taught an employment-law clinic at Loyola Law School and frequently speaks on issues related to poverty, employment, human trafficking and human rights. You can contact Kish at kevin.kish@dfeh.ca.gov.