Industry Standard Study

The DC Office of Human Rights (OHR) engaged Bayne LLC to conduct a research study to review OHR’s existing standard operating procedures for resolving civil rights cases, review the operating procedures of comparable agencies, identify best practices, and provide recommendations for improving OHR’s ability to efficiently resolve cases.

OHR Industry Study

• Reviewed legislation, policies, procedures, and resources regarding OHR’s investigation and enforcement processes.
• Researched and recommended a list of comparable jurisdictions to be studied and compared with OHR (Baltimore, New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Seattle, collectively “the selected jurisdictions”), supplemented with information from the Massachusetts Office of Civil Rights.
• Reviewed legislation, policies, procedures, and resources regarding the selected jurisdictions’ investigation and enforcement processes.
• Conducted interviews with selected managers from OHR.
• Conducted interviews with key civil rights enforcement staff from the selected jurisdictions.
• Analyzed and compared key elements of the enforcement process across the jurisdictions:
  • Budgets
  • Data
  • Staffing
  • Use of forms
  • Factors impacting workload
  • Human rights categories
  • Protected Traits
  • Enforcement process (from intake to resolution)
  • Timelines
  • Performance data
• Reported on key findings regarding OHR’s efficiency and alignment of responsibilities and duties compared to other jurisdictions.
• Reported on significant factors impacting OHR’s case resolution time.
• Provided recommendations based upon the research.