Black caucus says state discriminates

By Robert Morgan

July 26, 2000 Web posted at: 12:13 PM EDT (1613 GMT)

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (The Town Talk) -- Black lawmakers charge that state hiring and promotion practices discriminate against minorities.

But state Civil Service statistics challenge that conclusion.

In a press conference Monday, Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said, "I am saying to you that African-Americans, males and females, are being discriminated against in state government, no question about it." As proof of his claim, Fields cited results of a survey done of several state agencies by the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus between May 25 and June 24 that found blacks were under-represented in a number of departments.

And the survey found that black women were the largest group among employees holding the lowest-paying jobs, he said.

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The survey determined the legislative bodies were among the least representative, with just 1.1 percent of the employees in the Senate and 4.1 percent of the employees in the House being black.

Civil Service Director Allen Reynolds said, however, blacks and women hold more of the higher-paying and professional jobs than would be expected, based on qualifications.

While blacks account for 30.8 percent of the state population, that ethnic group accounted for 42 percent of the state's workforce as of June 30, 1999, Reynolds said.

He said women accounted for 63 percent of the state's workforce in 1999.

Both groups exceeded expectation in the number of "official or administrative" and professional positions, he said, based on the "availability" of qualified employees.

Black employees held 26 percent of the professional jobs in state government in contrast to an overall availability pool of 23 percent, he said.

Similarly, females account for 50 percent of the people holding jobs as "officials or administrators" in contrast to an overall pool of 42 percent qualified women, he said.

"If you will just take a look at those figures, you'll see that we've made substantial progress in minority representation (in employee ranks)," Reynolds said, responding to questions during an appearance at the Press Club of Baton Rouge.

"What you're going to see in the next few years (is) we've got a growing minority and female workforce," Reynolds said.

Those figures were apparently unavailable to Black Caucus members who acknowledged they did not contact Civil Service about minority applicants for jobs or promotions.

"We know in the black community: 'if you're black, you can't get a state job,'" Rep. Leonard Lucas, D-New Orleans, said.

"It's the position of this caucus to work with the departments," Fields said.

But, he said, "If the problem (of under-representation by blacks) is not alleviated, we will take appropriate action." While no legal action is anticipated at this time, he said a possible remedy could be to bring suit against the state to force fair employment practices for minorities.

Rep. Roy Quezaire, D-Donaldsonville, said, "We should be about making sure the doors of opportunity are open to everyone." Quezaire cited the seemingly low number of black males employed in state government as particularly troublesome.

The group said the problem is systemic and has existed for much longer than just this administration.

Fields praised Gov. Mike Foster for his response to the caucus' concerns after meeting with the group on its issues.

Foster, in a prepared statement, said, "As governor, I will always be as balanced as I can in state hiring practices to ensure that everyone is considered when filling vacancies.

I believe in employing the best-qualified person for the job, which I recently did when I filled three cabinet-level positions in my administration.

I welcome any help the Black Caucus can provide to ensure that a diverse applicant pool is available to choose from." In releasing results of the survey, the caucus said it will act as a clearinghouse for minority job applicants, collecting resumes and supplying candidates' names to departments when job openings occur.

Fields said the group will seek to direct all agency heads to alert the caucus of any job openings so that prospective employees can be notified.

Saying the group was not proposing the state should hire unqualified people, Fields said, "When you hire and there's a qualified minority, when you promote and there's a qualified minority, we suggest that you take that into consideration."

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