Bias Cases in Region Exceed State Rate : Discrimination: A report says complaints against landlords fell. Those against employers increased.

A new state report shows that landlords and employers in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties faced more than 400 discrimination complaints in the fiscal year that ended June 25--a slightly higher rate than their counterparts statewide.

“The differences aren’t that pronounced, but I see cause for concern,” said Ted Herzberg, district administrator for the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Though Herzberg’s office serves the tri-county area, it is based in Ventura and receives most of its complaints from Ventura County, he said.

In the year ending June 25, the state counted 34 formal complaints of housing discrimination in the three-county area, a decrease from the 54 complaints logged the year before.

When compared against the state’s January population estimate of 1,244,400 for Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, the housing complaints amount to one per 36,600 residents. Statewide, the agency logged 757 housing complaints, or one per 38,934 residents.

Herzberg decined to elaborate on specific cases, citing confidentiality laws. In the three counties, he said, three complaints came from tenants, ages 55 to 62, who were not admitted to a seniors-only housing complex. Another complaint came from a renter who maintained that he was evicted largely on the basis of race. Herzberg said the landlord settled by rescinding the eviction and paying the tenant $800.

The state had 374 employment-discrimination complaints in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, up from 337 the year before. That amounts to one complaint for 1,671.9 members of the counties’ work force, against a statewide total of 8,243 complaints--one per about 1,712 members of the work force.

One of the complaints, Herzberg said, came from a laid-off worker who argued that he had been given less training than his colleagues because of his more advanced age. The state found insufficient grounds for the allegation.

Another complaint came from a female fast-food worker whose male superior insisted on playing a rap music tape she found offensive and discriminatory. The female worker won a $2,000 settlement payment, and the restaurant changed its music policy.

Most of this area’s complaints were prompted by evictions and firings. Overall, Herzberg said, he doubts that the practices of employers and landlords in this area were substantially different from those elsewhere. He also noted that many of the figures released Friday by the state could lead to conflicting conclusions.

On one hand, he said, the figures show that housing discrimination complaints in the area were more likely to be dismissed for insufficient evidence than they were elsewhere. About 38.8% of the housing complaints closed statewide in the last year were dropped for insufficient evidence. The rate in the area was 69.5%, which Herzberg attributed to a handful of unsuccessful complaints from tenant groups.

On the other hand, at least two Ventura County officials read the report’s demographics as a hint that many legitimate housing and employment discrimination complaints are not finding their way to authorities here.

“I see lots of people who have cases that look like there’s something funny going on,” said Carmen Ramirez, executive director of the Oxnard-based Channel Counties Legal Services Assn., a nonprofit agency that receives state and federal money.

“But I think these days that people who want to discriminate in terms of housing or employment are more sophisticated. They don’t say things like ‘You can’t rent here because of your Spanish surname, or because you were born somewhere else.’ You don’t have a smoking gun.”

Herzberg agreed, and in particular cited discrimination against Latinos.

“You know it’s out there,” he said, noting Ventura County’s estimated 25% Latino population and the barriers ethnic minorities have historically faced in California.

The new figures show that just 5.5% of last year’s housing and employment complaints in the tri-county area were filed by Latinos suspecting discrimination on the basis of their ancestry. Statewide, in a population estimated to be 23% Latino, the figure was 6.9%.

“Somehow,” Herzberg said, “we’re not getting the word out to all the people who could benefit from our services.”

The state accepts complaints in cases where residents suspect bias because of race, color, national origin, religion, physical handicaps (a provision that includes people with AIDS and who test positive for the HIV virus), sex, marital status, children, age, medical condition (including cancer), retaliation and association with a particular group, such as a labor union.

Complaints may be forwarded to a public hearing, closed by a settlement between the parties, closed when a civil suit is filed or dropped for insufficient evidence. In some cases, the state can assess damages or order reinstatement.