The Minnesota Department of Human Rights, a 50-year-old state agency charged with investigating claims of illegal discrimination, has seen its staff shrink by almost half from its historic peak in 1990.
The steady drop in full-time enforcement officers and other staff comes amid a growing workload in recent years and heightened racial tensions in Minnesota over the past year. While hate crimes overall have declined in Minnesota since 2010, reports of hate crimes directed at Muslims are up in Minnesota, according to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
Discrimination complaints on the basis of race and religion are only a fraction of the cases the agency handles, but Commissioner Kevin Lindsey worries his staff is already stretched too thin.
The state agency has fewer than 40 employees to investigate discrimination complaints and whether state contractors are meeting diversity goals in hiring.
That's down from a peak of 70 people more than 20 years ago. The agency's responsibilities, which are set by the Legislature, have expanded recently to include making sure companies don't ask about a job seeker's criminal history on initial employment applications and monitoring compliance with the state's anti-bullying law. The creation of Gov. Mark Dayton's diversity and inclusion council also added to the workload.
Lindsey, a veteran civil litigation attorney, said the agency needs additional funding if it is to meet its growing workload.
"We're kind of stretched at our capacity to be able to deliver all the things that we're supposed to be doing under the [human rights] statute," he said.
With a budget forecast set to be released next week, state departments are now preparing spending requests for Dayton to consider as he puts together his budget recommendations for the upcoming biennium.