Kansas Commission on Civil Rights
The Kansas Commission on Civil Rights (KCCR), originally known as the Commission on Civil Rights (CCR), was established in 1961 and continued until 1991 for the purpose of preventing unfair and illegal acts of discrimination against persons in Kansas. It consisted of a seven-member, unpaid-volunteer governing and review board, and a staff of paid investigators managed by an executive director.
The KCCR was established by the Kansas Legislature in an attempt to prevent and remedy certain acts of discrimination against people in Kansas for reasons of their race and certain other demographic characteristics, particularly those whose personal characteristics were believed by the legislature to put them at a disadvantage in society.
The list of those protected classes grew over the subsequent years to include:
- race
- color
- national origin
- ancestry
- sex
- handicap / disability
- age
- marital and/or familial status
- genetic testing
In a 1990 agreement between the KCCR and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices, the KCCR's role, at that time, was partially defined (in regards to employment) as:
The [KCCR] is charged with the enforcement of the provisions of the Kansas Act Against Discrimination and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act that prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, physical handicap, ancestry or age.