[Compa] Qualified minorities third less likely to be interviewed for State Jobs

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Qualified minorities were a third less likely to be interviewed over the past three years, an investigation shows.
By JASON CLAYWORTH
REGISTER STAFF WRITER


Qualified minority applicants for state jobs were a third less likely to be interviewed than whites over the past three years, according to a newly released independent investigation into Iowa's hiring and promotion practices.

The report said 13.46 percent of qualified minority applicants were interviewed, while 20.24 percent of white applicants landed interviews between fiscal years 2004 and 2006.

The greatest disparity was with blacks, who represent 6 percent of the qualified pool of applicants but who filled no more than 2.8 percent of the state's jobs.

The report found that the interview disparity resulted in fewer opportunities to hire minorities. Whites represented 88 percent of qualified applicants and made up 91 percent of the total new hires, the study showed.

In total, roughly 6 percent - 1,057 of the state government's 19,653 employees - are minorities. The state's overall minority population is 7.4 percent, according to the 2000 U.S. census figures.

The report "did not uncover any obvious discrimination or bias in the recruitment process" but noted that such disparities "may support the perception of discriminatory hiring practices."

The report by CPS Human Resources Services of Madison, Wis., was commissioned last year in the aftermath of a Des Moines Register investigation. Those articles brought to light several claims of discrimination at Iowa Workforce Development and the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Since 2000, the state has settled discrimination lawsuits with eight people involving those agencies, paying nearly $500,000, the series of reports showed.

Last year former Gov. Tom Vilsack put together a committee known as the Hiring Practices Working Group to look into the issue, which is partially how the reports were commissioned.

The CPS report will cost an estimated $65,000. It looks at hiring practices across state departments.

A second report, from the Rose & Rose Law Firm in Washington, D.C., will cost about $50,000 and will look most specifically at past allegations of state hiring and promotion discrimination. The Rose report will likely be released within the next six weeks, a state official said.

The Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., president of the Iowa/Nebraska chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is one of the members of the Hiring Practices Working Group. The NAACP will wait until the second report is finished to make conclusions on the process, but Ratliff on Thursday noted a few statements he found odd in the first report.

He said he thinks it's misleading for the report to state there is no obvious discrimination or bias "and then to show in the data they collected that there's obviously a problem. ... There's definite problems there with state hiring, but if a person just looked at the comments, they could certainly be misunderstood."

The report recommends the state create a "recruitment coordinator" position and add more people to review the more than 54,000 applications the state receives each year.

Currently, two people initially review the applications, the report notes. Those two state employees review to see if the applicants meet general job criteria such as education. If so, the applicant is considered qualified.

State departments most frequently are responsible for the next step, which is to whittle down the qualified list - sometimes hundreds of applicants - to a manageable number for interviews.

The report said changes should be made to ensure that minority applicants are included in the screening process done by the state departments. Failure to include race as a factor when reviewing qualified candidates can kick out a disproportionate number of minorities, the report suggests.

The nearly 220-page report has been given to the hiring committee for review. Its members will discuss and likely make recommendations to the governor in a June meeting that has not yet been scheduled, said Deb Madison-Levi, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services.

Gov. Chet Culver said Wednesday he had not yet had a chance to review the report but said the state would closely evaluate the study's recommendations. Culver was meeting with residents outside of Des Moines Thursday and still had not had a chance to review the report, a spokesman said.

"It's something I'm concerned about and acknowledge there are some problems there," Culver said Wednesday.

Reporter Jason Clayworth can be reached at (515) 699-7058 or jclayworth at dmreg.com









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