What does your section do?
We represent the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and prosecute cases on the commission’s behalf. The process starts when somebody files a complaint of discrimination with the commission. The commission investigates the complaint, talks to witnesses, gathers evidence, and makes a recommendation. If the commission finds that there is probable cause, it will try to resolve the case informally. If the commission can’t reconcile the issue, it will file an administrative complaint that comes to my desk and I assign it to an assistant attorney general in Columbus or a regional office.
What happens next?
We will review the file, research the allegations, and, if the parties are interested in settlement, we will explore that as well. We check in with the complainant and the respondent but if a settlement isn’t possible, we start discovery, take depositions, start working the case up, and prepare for the hearing date. If the matter is an employment case, it goes before an administrative judge. If it’s a housing case, the parties have the option of going to a common pleas court.
How many assistant attorneys general do you have working for you?
I have four in Columbus, four in Cleveland, one in Toledo, and I’m in Cincinnati. We are spread out so we can stay on top of what’s happening regionally.
Why is the work of your section important?
We want everyone to have fair employment and housing opportunities and not be excluded from or denied service in public places.
Could you tell us about your section’s workshops?
We do fair employment and fair housing workshops anywhere, for anyone, and any size audience, at no cost. We’ve had good feedback, especially from landlords. We don’t offer legal advice, but we tell them what the law says so they will know when to speak to an attorney for specific guidance.
The trainings can last from an hour to three hours. The sessions came about because I started seeing a lot of cases against small-business employers and small-business landlords. We thought that if the employers and landlords knew the law and knew when to get advice before making a rash decision, it might have saved them some resources.
We also published the
Fair Employment Guide for Business Owners and the
Fair Housing Guide for Landlords, which are both available on the
Ohio Attorney General's website under "Business."
Our goal is to offer information so people can make informed decisions, and they can participate in the process and afford themselves every opportunity of being heard.
What are the challenges your section faces?
On a basic level, we are dealing with people on both sides who are very emotionally invested. It takes special skills to be able to defuse situations while also making sure you are getting the information you need to get, or doing what you need to do, to enforce the law.
People skills are very important and understated in this job. I’m very proud of my section. I’m proud of our ability to enforce the law professionally and successfully. Along with that enforcement, I want everyone involved to be able to say that they were treated with respect and professionalism by the Attorney General’s Office. And I believe we succeed in that area as well.
What are the rewards of doing this work?
There’s a very good feeling in being able to do justice in these cases.
I had a case involving a child with special needs. The family found a place to live that was close to their child’s school, but they didn’t get the apartment. It was a familial status case, meaning discrimination against the family because of children. The case was ultimately settled, but it’s a situation where the family lost more than just that apartment.
It feels really good to help a victim of discrimination while enforcing the civil rights laws of the state of Ohio. We are making sure that people have a fair, just opportunity to work, to live where they want, to obtain credit, to use places of public accommodation, or to obtain higher education.
The Anthony File
Previous jobs: assistant attorney general in the Workers’ Compensation Section, staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, bike messenger in downtown Cleveland
Education: Juris Doctor, Vermont Law School; Master of Arts, University of Akron; Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University
Family: A partner, a daughter, a guinea pig, and a dog
Hobbies: Bicycling, swimming, reading, rooting for Cleveland teams
Contact information: 614-466-7900; 30 E. Broad St., 15th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215; Lori.Anthony@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov