NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND PLEDGES TO SEEK RELIEF FOR BLACK AND LATINO PARKS EMPLOYEES IN DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT

(June 8, 2005--New York, NY) -- The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) announced today that it will continue to pursue its class action discrimination lawsuit against the New York City Parks Department on behalf of African-American and Hispanic employees despite the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) settlement of its separate civil rights suit against the Parks Department. DOJ's settlement will not affect plaintiffs' lawsuit because of significant differences in claims in the two cases.

Plaintiffs in Wright v. Stern filed their lawsuit in May 2001, 13 months before DOJ filed its suit. Plaintiffs alleged discriminatory pay and job assignment practices and policies and that Parks officials encouraged a hostile work environment. The DOJ lawsuit primarily sought to address failures in the Parks Department's promotions policies as they impacted Black and Latino employees and did not seek back pay or compensatory damages for the affected class members.

"The City's failure to provide equal pay and promotion opportunities for persons of color has been a continuing problem,” said LDF Director-Counsel and President Theodore M. Shaw. “We hope the Parks Department's Consent Decree with the Department of Justice is a first step toward putting this unfortunate history behind us, although serious problems still remain that must be addressed."

A report issued by the New York City Chapter of Blacks in Government (BIG) in January 2005 found that “existing administration policies and practices have failed to alleviate institutional biases that have maintained the concentration of blacks in lower level managerial and clerical positions.” The report also charged that Blacks, Hispanics and Asians continue to be underrepresented in city government executive and managerial positions, while Whites, who make up 41 percent of city agencies' workforce, comprise 79 percent of agencies' senior and executive staff.

The Consent Decree in the government's case approved by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin outlines procedures for the internal posting of job vacancies and filling of vacancies through a competitive process, and obligates the Parks Department to make career counselors and supervisory training courses available to all employees.

BIG's report clearly demonstrates that there is a systemic problem in the equal treatment of city employees that will take more aggressive measures to resolve. LDF's lawsuit seeks not only to redress inequities in employment opportunities for Blacks and Hispanics but also to recover damages to compensate them for lost job opportunities.

LDF is representing the class plaintiffs along with lawyers from Beldock, Levine & Hoffman LLP, and attorney Lewis Steel.
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