"With each year we continue to make advances when it comes to critical civil rights issues and create pathways to justice by expanding our enforcement authority and community engagement."- Director Mónica Palacio
In FY 2018, OHR began enforcing two new laws, the Fair Criminal Record Screening for Housing Act of 2016 and the Fair Credit in Employment Amendment Act of 2016. These two laws added additional civil rights protections for people seeking housing or employment, respectively. The fiscal period was also met with the steady number of inquiries of discrimination as well as new initiatives connecting OHR to marginalized and hard-to-reach communities across all eight Wards through Listening Labs and targeted outreach . Our Highlights of Fiscal Year 2018 report provides details of these cases and others, and looks into the proactive work of the agency. Highlights include:
- OHR received 1,747 inquiries and docketed a total of 512 including but not limited to 387 cases alleging a violation of the Human Rights Act, 89 under the Fair Criminal Record Screening Amendment Act, 1 under the new Fair Criminal Record Screening for Housing Act, and 1 under the Fair Credit in Employment Amendment Act;
- Sex remained the most commonly listed protected trait of our docketed cases under the Human Rights Act;
- 48 percent of mediated cases (248 of 521) were settled successfully at that stage;
- $2.9 million dollars awarded to complainants through OHR settlements via mediation;
- 79 "Know Your Rights" worskshops held across with city with 26 targeted outreach efforts and events in East of the River communities;
- 65 trainings conducted on Fair Criminal Record Screenings in Housing and Fair Credit in Employment Amendment Acts; and
- 21% increase in social media following on OHR's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
We are proud to share these numbers - and our Highlights of Fiscal Year 2018 report - with you. We appreciate your support of our work, and will continue to stand strong together against discrimination in the District.
Download the report: