ACLU, NAACP Urge Immediate Action To End Racial Disparities in W-2 Sanctioning

March 10, 2005

This week, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development formally released a report showing that W-2 agencies imposed greater sanctions - reductions of cash assistance payments - on African American participants than on white participants. The largest disparities exist outside Milwaukee.

“We can and must start reducing racial bias in W-2 now,” said Karyn Rotker, an ACLU of Wisconsin attorney and member of the committee DWD put together to study race and sanctions.

This committee - most of whose members were W-2 agency and DWD staff - reached consensus on 19 priority recommendations to reduce racial bias and inappropriate sanctioning. “We spent nearly two years studying these issues and seeking agreement on how to reduce the unfair penalties imposed on persons of color,” stated ACLU attorney Rotker. “There is no reason for further delay: DWD must begin implementing those recommendations at once.”

“Under federal civil rights law, different treatment of persons of different races is unlawful,” noted attorney Kenyatta Riley, chair of the NAACP legal redress committee. “And the federal government has made it clear that the state and W-2 agencies need to eliminate practices having even a discriminatory effect - not just intentional discrimination.”

The priority recommendations include evaluation of state training materials, providing meaningful diversity training to W-2 agency staff, monitoring the effect of adverse actions on persons of different races, and requiring explanations from agencies with high levels of racial disparities. Further study is required of other aspects of W-2, particularly the very large racial gaps in W-2 tier placement - with persons of all minority groups, in all parts of the state, being more likely than white participants to be placed in the more rigorous, more frequently sanctioned, Community Service Job category.

Because the study also indicated that inappropriate sanctions have been imposed on disabled W-2 participants and those caring for disabled family members, the committee’s recommendations include providing more uniform guidance to agencies on “good cause” for non-participation in W-2 and ensuring that agencies properly assess and make appropriate accommodations for disabled persons.

“W-2 is supposed to help families with barriers to employment,” added NAACP attorney Riley. “To do that, it needs to treat all people - including persons of color and disabled people - fairly. We hope that we can continue to work with DWD on planning for immediate implementation of policies and practices to end bias in W-2.”

Read the Executive Summary of the Report (PDF)

Read the Full Report (PDF)