Labor Department probes for discrimination,
fraud; university denies any fault
By Kristopher Hanson
Daily Forty-Niner
Federal investigators conducted roughly
six hours of on-campus interviews last week following a string of unfair
labor complaints made against Cal State Long Beach by a university veterans
group.
Vets battle CSULB
Special Report
( Part 1)
|
The unusual campus visit by U.S. Department
of Labor investigators proceeded a closed-door meeting between university
officials and representatives of the CSULB Veterans Group.
It was the second time in less than a month
that the two parties came face to face to discuss the controversial claims,
which date back to 1996.
The Veterans Group, comprising nearly 30
university employees, contends the university engaged in fraud and discrimination,
denying campus veterans federally mandated benefits.
"The university has never notified vets
of their rights under the law as required," said John
Whittaker, a Vietnam-era veteran and equipment technician in the CSULB
department of communicative disorders. "There have been civil and criminal
violations against the faculty and management on campus."
University officials said they are willing
to work with the Department of Labor but denied any wrongdoing.
"We feel that we were in compliance with
the laws," said Barbara Franklin, acting director
of CSULB's office of Equity and Diversity. "We're
looking forward to clearing up any misinterpretations between the university
and the Veterans Group."
Franklin said her role was to serve as
a "facilitator" between the Labor Department and the
veterans.
Four department officials arrived on campus
Wednesday morning, meeting with CSULB President Robert Maxson first, while
two officials stayed to meet with three members of the Veterans Group,
including Whittaker, the group's spokesman.
"We are here to check with compliance of
the laws on campus," said Andrea Brown, a department
representative, as she hustled from the University Student Union following
the meeting with Whittaker and his colleagues.
Brown described the meeting as "preliminary"
and said future meetings and further investigations on campus are "very
probable."
Maxson was unavailable for comment. But
Armando Contreras, the president's executive assistant,
said the department's visit was meant to give the
university a "sense of the scope of their investigation."
He could not elaborate further.
The story began in 1996, when Vietnam veteran
Raymond Renaud, a CSULB employee since 1981, filed a class-action
discrimination complaint with the Labor Department.
The complaint contends the university failed
to comply with the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of
1974, which awards promotions, preferences and benefits to veterans. The
act was established to aid veterans, who were experiencing widespread discrimination
after the Vietnam War.
The department sent investigators to campus
in June 1996. When word got out about the investigation, 12 other veterans,
including two professors, stepped forward with similar allegations, according
to Labor Department investigation documents.
Department officials ruled against the
veterans in October 1996, finding no discrimination.
Later that year, the group appealed. But
in January 1998, the department again ruled in favor of the university.
Late last year, Walter Moore, CSULB chairman
of communicative disorders, filed a complaint against the university on
behalf of the veterans. This time, the group contends the university failed
to comply with new portions of the veterans readjustment act.
In a Sept. 28 letter from Woody Gilliland,
the department's acting regional director, Whittaker
was notified that the department was now actively investigating the veterans'
complaints, citing new evidence.
The letter stated that the 1998 noncompliance
compliant would be investigated along with the appeal of the original discrimination
suit. |
![[news]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/news.gif){kind=icon}
![[opinion]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/opinion.gif){kind=icon}
![[Sports]](http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/Icon/sports.gif){kind=icon}