Division Initiated Complaints

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an informal complaint against a manufacturing firm in the state. Mr. Chapin
merely reported that his union people have charged this with racial
discriminatory practices, asking us to enter into an favestisatfoy o of the
plant. (plang

I expressed some reluctance in entering into an investigation of the particu-
lar plant under these circumstances, pointing out the rather futile gesture
that it suggested unless we have an aggrieved person upon whom we can base

an actual test of operation of the personnel policy. Mr. Chapin countered
with a report of an understanding he apparently had with you to theeffect
that we could accept such informal complaints and process them through the
Attorney General or theCommissioner of Labor if our preliminary investigation
showed probable cause. Something along these lines that you said only re-
cently at a time that was impossible for us to enter into long discussion,
makes me feel that here is anarea of some misunderstanding that does need
clarification.

I pointed out to Art that theoretically what he said is true and possible to
us in the Divisions namely, that a general complaint might be entered on the
informal level and then if we find sufficient cause that the labor commissioner
or attorney general could be asked to file a formal complaint. I pointed out
to him, however, that from a practical day to day kind of operation, it means
that our staff would find itself bogged down almost completely by fishing ex-
peditions coming out of the suspicions or fears of people that such and such
plants or business concerns were indulging in discriminatory operation. I
said to him that if we had unlimited staff that was sitting around fiddling
thumbs for want of something to do, we then could afford to go into these
fishing expeditions. Situated as we are, however, it is much better, much
more practicable, and certainly in the long run much more productive of good
results if we use the shorter cut of finding persons who can come to us as

the aggrieved individuals enabling us then to enter immediately into the
formal operation. I can see where if we followed out this theory of informal
investigation and appeal ultimately to one of the state officials that we
would have them in the embarrassing position of going to bat in innumerable
situations where aggrieved persons themselves should be the complainant or
plaintiff in the matter. In other words, I tried to make clear to Chapin

that to accept this kind of intangible thing from him meant ultimately the
pyramiding of Hens knows how many from the other voluntary organizations,
who areoperating upon nothing other than their zeal and their suspicions, but
lcbining ‘va. 1h CRS otas Atoi E day to day problems of considerable embarrass-
ment that ultimately could lead to very crittal reactions on the part of the
legislature and the business public.

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I do not see this in conflict with the other position of wishing to have from
the legislature the right to initiate complaints on our own. This right,
written into the statutes, would give us all of the authority essential in-
cluding the right of subpoena and all of the drastic sieps short of public
hearing. We also could enter into public hearing if we had the right to
initiate complaints without resorting to placing the attorney general or
the labor commissioner in the position of plaintiff in matters of this
sort. I believe that the right to involve the commissioner of labor and
the attorney general should be reserved for those situations that we know
to be flagrant and persistent violations of the law. In other words, I
think this should be used sparingly, rather than on the plane that would
develope were we to accustom Chapin, Sam Brown, Jim Pawley and all of the
executives of civic organizations to take the very easy course of writing
their suspicions as a means of initiating complaints. If the State Com-
mission has this kind of understanding, I strongly believe that we should
confer on the matter in order to arrive at a very practical and mutually
acceptable plan of operation.

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