St. Cloud Human Rights Office Educates And Investigates

ST. CLOUD -- The St. Cloud Regional Human Rights Office has been open since September and since that time there have been 10 charges of discrimination in St. Cloud.

Richard Cousin is the Department of Human Rights Enforcement Officer in St. Cloud. He says they've sent out about 20-30 questionnaires to those who feel they've been discriminated against. And, he says from there the state office in St. Paul takes the lead.

When he isn't investigating complaints, Cousin is out educating employers and landlords on human rights and discrimination issues.

In his time here, cousin says he was surprised to learn that gender discrimination leads the list of 13 protected classes in complaints. Age discrimination is next, followed by disability and then race.

Cousin says it's important for people to understand it's not the minority rights of but the human rights office and it covers everyone.