Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ohr Backlog topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Advocates tell Council OHR delays in mediation and investigations cause years-long harms
Summary
Multiple advocates told the Committee on Public Works and Operations that lengthy intake, mediation and investigation timelines at the Office of Human Rights are harming complainants, with witnesses citing waits of months to more than a year and urging more staff, clearer processes and public reporting.
At a performance oversight hearing, legal aid groups, tenant advocates and community organizations told the Committee on Public Works and Operations that long delays at the Office of Human Rights (OHR) are creating prolonged harm for people pursuing discrimination complaints.
Elizabeth Butterworth of Legal Counsel for the Elderly said intake-to-mediation waits ranged from seven to 11 months for her clients, and that three 2024 complaints saw the first meaningful investigator contact only eight months to a year after mediation. "These cases have now been ongoing for nearly 2 years with no indication of when the investigation may conclude," she said, urging that OHR streamline intake, mediation scheduling, and investigator communications.
Other witnesses, including the Equal Rights Center and disability advocates, described multi-year investigation backlogs, inconsistent intake outcomes for attorney-submitted charges, and mediations scheduled months out. Chair Nadeau and committee members pressed OHR leadership on underlying causes; interim Director Elizabeth Fox Solomon acknowledged the backlog, described recent hires intended to close gaps and said the agency resolved more than 80% of FY23 and older cases and 58% of FY24 cases, while averaging about 100 new complaints per month in FY26. Solomon and witnesses agreed that staffing and operational tools — including a new case management system — are central to reducing timelines.
Advocates urged specific changes: dedicated scheduling support for the ADR unit, clearer public reporting of complaints by agency and statute, and finalizing the attorney-drafted-charges pilot to speed intake for represented clients. The committee offered to follow up with individual complainants whose cases were cited during testimony.
