Department of Fair Employment and Housing

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The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (or DFEH) is a branch of the California government intended to protect civil rights. It is the largest such agency in the United States, and enforces state anti-discrimination laws which pertain to housing, employment, public accommodations, and public services^[1]. It also provides representation to the victims of hate crimes. Originally a division within the Department of Industrial Relations, DFEH became a separate department in 1980. DFEH has a director who is appointed by the governor of California and maintains a total of fifteen offices throughout the state. Today, it is considered part of the State and Consumer Services Agency.

The current director of the DFEH is Suzanne M. Ambrose.

1 Authority
2 Overview
3 Complaint process
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Authority

The DFEH has jurisdiction within the State of California under state laws, and it is regulated by the Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC). Complaints pertaining to federal laws are handled by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). DFEH primarily enforces four laws:

California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA): Established the Department; enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination legislation
California Family Rights Act (CFRA): Ensures leave rights for employees
Ralph Civil Rights Act: Prohibits violence or threats of violence based on race, religion, etc.
Unruh Civil Rights Act: Forbids discrimination in housing and public accommodation

Several protections afforded under these laws, such as sexual orientation and transgendered status, were not expressly included in the original document but have been determined as a matter of case law.

[edit] Overview

DFEH was established by the Legislature of California in 1959 as the Division of Fair Employment Practices and was initially part of the Department of Industrial Relations.

In 1980, DFEH was established as an independent department charged with enforcing California's comprehensive employment, housing, public accommodations and public service non-discrimination laws, as well as the State's bias-related hate violence law.

DFEH's statutory mandate is to protect the people of California from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations pursuant to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Government Code section 12900, et seq., the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Civil Code section 51, et seq., and the Ralph Civil Rights Act, Civil Code section 51.7.

DFEH has jurisdiction over both private and public entities operating within the State of California, including corporate entities, private sector contracts granted by the State of California, and all State departments and local governments.

DFEH receives and investigates discrimination complaints in its twelve district offices throughout the State. Ten offices handle employment, public accommodations and hate violence cases and two offices handle housing cases. In addition, there are three legal offices which litigate cases and provide legal support to the district offices.

DFEH routinely provides technical assistance to employers, business establishments and housing providers regarding their responsibilities under the law.

[edit] Complaint process

Filing a complaint with the DFEH is free, but all victims must do so within one year of the events in question. Each complaint is reviewed to determine whether there is sufficient evidence and to determine state or federal jurisdiction. Some forms of discrimination are difficult to prove, particularly employment discrimination.^[2] Once the DFEH accepts a case, it conducts a neutral investigation and attempts to reach a compromise through avenues such as mediation. In the event that no reasonable compromise can be reached, the DFEH provides free legal representation to the victim.

[edit] References

Portions of this article may have been taken from or based on material found on the official DFEH website; where applicable, this is noted in HTML comments (which are visible in the source code when editing). As part of the government of California, anything published by DFEH is in the public domain.

^ "About DFEH". Welcome to California. Department of Fair Employment and Housing. http://dfeh.ca.gov/about.asp. Updated 13 December 2005. Accessed 10 July 2006.
^ "Proving Discrimination". Employment Law Guide. Law Offices of David Greenberg. http://www.discriminationattorney.com/proving.shtml. Accessed 12 July 2006.