Division of Human Rights

Timeliness of Processing Discrimination Complaints

Allegations of discrimination are investigated and adjudicated by the Division of Human Rights. According to State law, these investigations must be completed, and any resulting hearings initiated, within certain timeframes. However, when we examined the Division’s complaint processing activities, we found that these timeframes were routinely exceeded. For example, even though the Division is required to complete its investigations within 180 days, 73 percent of the investigations in the period we examined exceeded 180 days and some of these investigations took years to complete. While the Division has taken action to significantly reduce its backlog of open cases, further actions are needed if the Division is to achieve substantial compliance with its statutory timeframes. We recommend several actions that can help the Division achieve this compliance.

For a complete copy of Report 2004-S-45 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.