County Figures Indicate Hiring Discrimination, Latinos Assert

Los Angeles County’s own figures show that Latinos for years have been victims of discrimination in county hiring and promotion practices, representatives of Latino civil servants complained Wednesday.

Leaders of employee groups, which have already filed a federal discrimination complaint against the county’s Department of Health Services, joined members of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other Latinos in criticizing the county’s hiring and promotion record.

“If there is a charge of systemic discrimination against one department, then it ought to really be lodged against every county department,” said Raul Nunez, president of the Chicano Employees Assn., which represents some 1,300 county workers.

“Using the county’s own statistics, it really establishes the fact that the county continues to discriminate against Latinos,” Nunez added.

A 264-page study by the county’s Office of Affirmative Action Compliance, which was sent this week to the Board of Supervisors, concludes that Latinos are “considerably under-represented” among county employees.

Remains Below Goal

According to the statistics, the number of Latinos increased from 8,221 employees, or 13% of the county work force in 1977, to 11,989, or 18.3%, a decade later. But the rising percentage for Latinos remains below the 27.6% “parity” figure that is the county’s Latino hiring goal. The parity figure is derived from the county population figure for Latinos in the 1980 Census.

Among the 38 county departments, only two agencies, Purchasing and Stores and Parks and Recreation, have met that goal, and the report warned that if the county continues to hire Latinos at the current pace, parity would not be reached until 1997. By comparison, blacks, Asians and Filipinos have already exceeded their parity figures, with only American Indians, who represent a tiny portion of the county work force, falling short.

“The report presents clear and convincing evidence that while affirmative action has been successful for many of the protected groups, it has not been successful for Hispanics,” said Ray Arce, president of the Los Angeles County Hispanic Managers Assn.

Arce and the other Latinos, speaking at a news conference at the Hall of Administration, contended that the county needs to be more aggressive in its hiring and promotion policies. They also charged that officials had masked the lack of Latino women in the county work force by lumping them along with all women employees in their report.

Robert Arias, the county’s affirmative action compliance officer, disputed those charges and defended the county’s overall record on minorities, even while conceding that more should be done to assist not only Latinos and American Indians but other minorities.

“You have to get beyond the rhetoric,” Arias said. “The bottom line is that you have a county that is pro-active, not reactive. And the commitment (to affirmative action) on the part of all five supervisors is extremely high.”

Over the last decade, the number of minorities has increased by 11% and now comprises nearly 60% of the total county work force of more than 65,400, according to the county figures. But most of those employees are in lower-paying, nonmanagement jobs.