Pa. agency in pool case has fought bias for years

From school desegregation to pool desegregation, the state agency alleging racial bias in the Huntingdon Valley swim-club controversy has played a central role in civil rights disputes large and small for more than five decades.

Established in 1955 under the name of the Pennsylvania Fair Employment Practice Commission, the 11-member state Human Relations Commission was renamed in 1961 when its jurisdiction was broadened. It has authority over discrimination issues covered in two laws: the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act.

The commission has been involved in hundreds of cases. In the 1960s, it found that the Chester City public schools were de facto segregated, a landmark decision that led to significant changes in education. The commission also initiated the long-running Philadelphia School District desegregation case, which was settled this year with an agreement to provide more resources to disadvantaged students.

In the 1970s, the commission took a complaint against the Lansdowne Swim Club in Delaware County for failing to admit African Americans; more than a decade later, in 1987, a federal court judge ruled that widespread discrimination had taken place.

The commission also ruled in 1990 that a women's-only chain of fitness clubs had to open its doors to men. And it said in the same year that a Montgomery County apartment complex must make accommodations to allow a tenant who was allergic to pesticides, chlorine bleach, and the dust from rugs to continue to live there.

The commission's members are volunteers, appointed by the governor and approved by the state Senate. They get $60 for each day worked, plus expenses, said commission spokeswoman Shannon Powers. The executive director, Homer C. Floyd, who has held the position since 1970, is paid $120,744. The panel is bipartisan; no more than six can be from the same party.

Several commission members are civil rights activists, including J. Whyatt Mondesire, the president of the Philadelphia NAACP chapter. Its chairman, Stephen A. Glassman, an architect, headed several gay- and gender-rights groups before his appointment in 2002.

The staff of investigators "has managed to steer a middle course, protecting the rights of individuals, minorities in particular, while making sure they do not make charges casually," said Michael Churchill, a veteran civil rights lawyer with the nonprofit Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia.

Because of that, Churchill said, "the commission has a reputation for being fair. I'm not aware of any times when they have issued a major report and it hasn't held up."

Churchill added: "The board changes over time, but the staff work has always been of significant quality - they typically do thorough work. . . . There is a general belief that they are more inclined to support victims, but I don't think there's much evidence of that. They are usually cautious and therefore their reports carry great credibility."

The staff's finding of discrimination at the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley is just the first step in a longer process, said Powers, the commission spokeswoman.

The commission will try to reach a settlement in the matter through a conciliation process, she said; if that fails, there will be a public hearing and the commission will make a decision on the matter. That decision could include penalties of up to $50,000 and a compliance order to rectify the situation. If the commission rules that discrimination took place, the swim club could appeal the decision to the state Commonwealth Court.