County Health Department Settles Latino Job Bias Suit

Ending a five-year federal investigation into charges of discrimination in Los Angeles County hospitals, the county health department has agreed to spend $2.1 million to recruit and promote Latino employees, officials said Tuesday.

The investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the county has discriminated against Latinos in hiring and promotions.

Without conceding any wrongdoing, county officials have agreed to take measures to increase the number of Latinos working for the health department, such as training department managers and supervisors in fair-employment practices.

A group of Latino county employees, however, immediately attacked the settlement for not going far enough.

“I think it’s a joke. We’re not at all satisfied,” said Raul Nunez of the Los Angeles County Chicano Employees Assn. “Nothing has changed.”

Nunez said the settlement failed to establish specific hiring goals for Latinos. He said the employee group is considering legal action against the county.

The office of state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) issued a statement saying Torres was outraged because the agreement did very little to “remedy the EEOC’s extensive findings of discrimination against Latinos.”

Federal officials were unavailable for comment.

In 1990, the EEOC reported that there were not enough Latino employees with bilingual skills and cultural sensitivity to treat the many Spanish-speaking patients who use the county’s health facilities because the county failed to fairly hire and promote Latinos.

Latino employee groups say the proportion of Latino workers in the health department should reflect the proportion of Latinos in the county population.

But federal investigators agreed with county officials who argued that the health department’s hiring of Latinos need only match the number of Latinos available in the work force.

Irving Cohen, finance director for the health department, said that in signing the agreement the county was not admitting any wrongdoing but was merely trying to avoid a costly legal battle.