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Employers and Employment Agencies Flouting New York State Anti-discrimination Law

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The New York State Ives-Quinn Law, which prohibits discrimination in employment, is being flagrantly violated by both commercial employment agencies and private employers, the American Jewish Congress charged yesterday on the basis of a survey made by its Commission on Law and Social Action.

Will Maslow, director of the commission, said that Congress investigators had phoned 121 agencies and, without identifying themselves, asked that a “white Protestant” stenographer be referred. Only 14 of the agencies refused to take the order.

Mr. Maslow also pointed out that in the six-month period ending Dec. 3, 1946, the New York State Employment Service received 348 requests which specified “No Negroes” or “Christians Only,” compared to 257 in the same period in 1945, before the anti-discrimination law went into effect. He demanded a public hearing as “the first step in an aggressive, imaginative enforcement of the law.”

The New York City Committee of the State Commission on Discrimination at its first meeting yesterday was told by Charles Tuttle, one of the framers of the anti-discrimination law, that the measure has become a model for the nation and was no longer feared by employers.

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