Case Files, 1947-1984, bulk: 1956-1984

Between 1956 and 1984, the Civil Rights Department kept files on over 3,000 discrimination cases involving locals of international unions, including some not affiliated with the AFL-CIO. These cases document discrimination in the workplace because of a person's race, sex, national origin, religion, and disability. Most of the department's involvement in the cases consisted of receiving complaints and informing international unions of these complaints. The department was directly involved in the conciliation of only a small proportion of cases.

For cases initiated prior to 1964, the files contain primarily correspondence between the department and the unions and the complainants. In 1964, the department began using a Present Status Sheet to summarize action taken on a case. The form contains space for such information as the name of the complainant, the name of the union involved, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) case number and a short description of action taken by the department; however, this information was not always recorded. Some folders originally had slips of paper stapled to them containing the closing date of the case. These slips were discarded and the dates were written on the Present Status Sheet, presumably by their department staff.

For EEOC cases, copies of the following documentation might be found: Statements of Complaint, Decisions (sometimes called a Consent Order or a Finding of Fact), Conciliation Agreements, Notices of Right to Sue, and Requests for Reconsideration of Decision. A small number of folders contain documents from federal court cases. Most folders for EEOC cases contain only Present Status Sheets, copies of Statements of Complaint and standardized cover letters from the EEOC or copies of standardized cover letters from the department to the internationals.

Folders for non-EEOC cases tend to contain more materials, such as correspondence between the department and internationals, locals, federal and state civil rights agencies, complainants, attorneys and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In addition, some cases contain intra-departmental or intra-federation memos. In addition, case folders might contain notes taken during conciliation conferences and "telecons", telephone calls made by the department staff, primarily Pollard. Other documents that might exist include newspaper clippings (photocopies), Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Memoranda of Agreement, contractual agreements and affidavits. Documents created prior to 1956 were not created by the department and were used primarily for background information on cases; these materials are generally contracts between locals and employers.

Certain internationals had a particularly large number of locals that were involved in discrimination cases. These were the Auto Workers, Electrical Workers, Laborers, Machinists, Railway Clerks, and Steelworkers.

The following cases contain a great deal of documentation: