Quota me on that!

City race ‘audits’ loom

The next City Council speaker may force all city agencies to conduct extensive “diversity” audits, and critics fear the “unreliable” headcounts could be the first step toward hiring quotas.

Seven of the eight speaker candidates say they support Queens Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer’s proposed measure to mandate audits of the city’s workforce, including the gender, race and sexual orientation of public employees. An eighth candidate supports data-gathering on only race and gender.

Some critics argue that the city should not seek to document characteristics that are “completely irrelevant” to a worker’s ability.

The proposed audits are “the same as quotas,” said Heather Mac Donald of The Manhattan Institute think thank. “There’s simply no way that the pressure of audits does not have an impact on hiring and promotion decisions.”

She said such audits are also a waste of taxpayer money since the city is already eager to hire women and minorities.

“There’s obviously enormous internal and informal pressures to hire by race and gender,” Mac Donald said.

Van Bramer said the audits would “shine a light” on diversity issues and that he’d want hiring “goals” implemented at city agencies.

Race-based hiring quotas could violate anti-discrimination laws, according to Katherine Franke, a Columbia Law professor and director of the school’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law.

The city already releases annual reports showing some race and gender information, but they don’t include sexual orientation. Van Bramer’s proposed audits would also analyze salary history based on these factors, as well as the makeup of workers in leadership positions.

“Transparency is going to produce the change that we seek,” Van Bramer said.

Van Bramer is one of eight councilmembers running for speaker, a race lacking any female candidates.

Queens Councilman Donovan Richards supports an audit, but without the sexual-orientation component.

“We have concerns about unintentionally requiring employees to disclose their sexual orientation to their superiors,” Richards spokesman Jordan Gibbons said.

Franke said such audits can be “unreliable” because some people don’t identify as male or female, or fit into a single racial category, and some respondents could be gay or bisexual or not ready to go public with their sexual orientation.

“They might document gross imbalances in some departments or in some parts of the hierarchy,” Franke said. But she cited several studies that show “it’s not clear that having more women or people of color or gay people in leadership will result in policies that are nondiscriminatory.”

A spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio said City Hall looks forward to reviewing the bill, which is being drafted.