The Connecticut state office that handles human rights violations ranging from sexual harassment to housing discrimination lacks the staff and technology to process complaints.
That’s the finding of the latest report on the Connecticut Commission of Human Rights and Opportunities released by Rob Kane. He’s a state auditor, who studied the commision from June 2017 to 2018.
Kane said there are several reasons there is still a backlog of civil rights complaints today, including lack of staff to handle cases.
“They should talk to the legislature as well as the administration about filling vacancies in order to have enough referees. The case tracking system is inadequate. Not to mention that there is no way to electronically put forth a complaint,” Kane said.
Kane said he publishes reports like these for state agencies about every two years. He said only half of recommendations from his office actually get adopted by agencies or state lawmakers.
He said it’s up to elected officials to read this report and vote to update laws to uphold the mission of the Human Rights Commission.