Welcome To The Chuck Turner Daylight Network: The Antidote For The Apathetic
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. Immediate Action Needed / MCAD in trouble (sorry for late notice)
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| Dear All,
When the House takes up a complex bill Wednesday (H 4820) to streamline the way various state agencies deal with economic development, it will also face 122 proposed amendments on a broad range of related and unrelated topics. One of these proposed amendments -- Amendment #118 - offered by Rep. Michael Costello, (who represents Amesbury, Salisbury, and the city of Newburyport), would have significant impact on the role of the Massachusetts Commission on Discrimination, particularly in its role representing clients who do not have private legal representation, but depend solely on that agency to consider claims of discrimination in employment. For almost sixty years, the MCAD has provided the Commonwealth with a broad range of tools, not only to make the employees whole, but to make sure the discrimination does not recur. The choice would now move to the employer as to whether to be subject to these remedial tools. Immediate Action Needed Please call your state representative and urge that proposed Amendment #118 to H 4820 (Economic Development) be soundly defeated. Please make those calls first thing Wednesday morning. Many legislators will be meeting in caucus at 11:00 a.m. to consider these amendments, prior to the 1 p.m. scheduled debate on the floor of the House. The full range of proposed amendments may be reviewed at www.mass.gov/legis/house/H4820amends.pdf . Sheila Decter | | | ADDITIONAL FACTS ON AMENDMENT #118 TO H. 4830
Amendment No. 118 (to H 4820) seeks to radically alter the civil rights enforcement mechanism that, for fifty years, has stood as testament to the Commonwealth's unwavering commitment to eradicate unlawful discrimination. Among other things,
Amendment No. 118 seeks to strip the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination of its statutory powers to remedy discrimination in cases where it has found "probable cause" to believe that unlawful discrimination has occurred. It allows employers with "probable cause" findings to bypass the MCAD's administrative hearing and remediation process and to go directly to Court - a forum in which even represented plaintiffs are easily outspent, and in which fact finders are not equipped to craft the type of individually tailored orders (including reinstatement, training, and ongoing monitoring) that provide the MCAD with critical remedial tools to end discrimination.
Amendment No. 118 places an enormous burden upon the Office of the Attorney General to represent the thousands of unrepresented complaints whose cases would be subject to removal to Court if the private employer so chose.
In an effort to overrule Stonehill College v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, 441 Mass. 549 (2004) by legislation, Amendment No. 118 allows respondents who have been found guilty of unlawful discrimination to ignore any and all remedial orders entered by the MCAD in cases in which public hearings were held prior to the Stonehill decision, but where a final judgments have not yet entered. In these cases - even those in which the MCAD's decision has been upheld by the Superior Court and/or the Appeals Court - the employer would have the option simply to start over, nullifying all that went before.
This is a fundamental change in our civil rights enforcement scheme. We believe such a change is against the public interest. Such changes should certainly not be made without the opportunity for vigorous debate - so that legislators may hear and carefully consider the voices of those whose rights would be so drastically compromised.
Please vote NO on Amendment 118. Thank you for your consideration. | | Need help in locating your state representative? Go to
www.wheredoivotema.com
Additional questions, call the JALSA Office, 617-227-3000. | | |
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Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action | 18 Tremont Street | Suite 320 | Boston | MA | 02108
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-- THE END --
OR, IS IT JUST THE BEGINNING? YOU DECIDE!
( Stay tuned, as the struggle continues. )
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Chuck Turner, District 7 Boston City Councillor
City Hall Office--(617) 635-3510 / District Office--(617) 427-8100
Chuck.Turner@cityofboston.gov Angela.Yarde@cityofboston.gov Darrin.Howell@cityofboston.gov
Paulette.Tillery@cityofboston.gov Lorraine.Fowlkes@cityofboston.gov Edith.Monroe@cityofboston.gov
ROXBURY: WARD 8, Pcts 3-4, 7; WARD 9, Pcts 3-5; WARD 11, Pcts 1-3, 5; WARD 12, Pcts 1-9
DORCHESTER: Ward 7, Pct 10; Ward 8, Pcts 5-6; Ward 13, Pcts 1-2, 4-5
SOUTH END: Ward 4, Pct 4; Ward 9, Pct 2
FENWAY : Ward 4, Pcts 5, 8-9
