County Human Rights director outlines complaint process and subpoena power

Xavier Gallegos, executive director of the Prince George's County Office of Human Rights, explained how residents can seek redress for discrimination and how the office processes complaints. "We do an intake to make sure whether that's something that we have authority to investigate...and then if we do, we take a complaint, we notify the company that a complaint was made, and then we start the investigation," Gallegos said. He added that the office can issue subpoenas when employers fail to cooperate and that investigations can result in probable-cause findings, settlements or public hearings.

Gallegos also described the office's proactive work: outreach, interfaith events and education designed to reduce bias before it becomes discrimination. He said the office has four divisions — investigations, human trafficking, language access, and outreach and engagement — and that the outreach arm organizes programs to promote inclusion even when the office cannot investigate a matter directly.