Secretary for the Red Ribbon Committee for people with disabilities Cecilia Gutierrez presents during city council meeting on June 24, 2024, at City Hall.
David Gomez Jr./Laredo Morning Times
Laredo leaders and management were recently put under the spotlight regarding an update on driver's license requirements for city jobs, which excluded candidates almost immediately for not having one, even for non-driving positions.
Cecilia Gutierrez, Secretary for the Red Ribbon Committee for people with disabilities, arranged a presentation for City Council to
address an issue she had previously presented in May of 2023. It turns out it is a glitch in the system.
This meant that people with or without disabilities were excluded in the hiring process simply by not having a driver’s license.
According
to Gutierrez, her concern was regarding the ability of individuals with disabilities. She pointed out a flaw in the city’s application process, hoping to prevent individuals with disabilities from having any issues during the hiring process.
City Attorney Doahn "Zone" Nguyen reassured Gutierrez and councilmembers that changes to the hiring process had been made, but the issue stemmed from the online
application with NEOGOV, a company known for its human resources software and management solutions.
District IV Councilmember Alberto Torres said the problem stems from NEOGOV, but it does not disenfranchise anyone with a disability from applying for a job with the city.
“Driving is not a requirement for the
job,” Torres said. “For people that don’t drive and choose to walk to work, take the bus or get a ride from a friend, it should not disqualify you from applying for a job with the city.”
Torres added that the issue had been discussed over the last 12 months and that the city’s HR department was still working on it.
“We have, what I consider, one of the best hiring softwares known as NEOGOV that can easily address that issue,” Torres said. “And we are now asking for diligent followup on the situation to ensure individuals that are disabled, or do not have a driver's license, can still be employed by the city of Laredo if they do not have a driver’s license.”
Gutierrez would like an option for a state-issued ID in lieu of a driver's license on the online application and to identify positions that require driving and provide a list of them.
Assistant City Manager Steve Landin said he would work with the city’s HR department and resolve the issue.
“I met with HR, and HR has sent all the directors a reminder to evaluate every position in their department when they're getting ready to post a vacancy, so that it can be posted without a driver’s license requirement,” Landin said.
Torres said the same issue had come up at Laredo College, but they were able to resolve the glitch.
“What councilmember Torres was talking about, we’re going to try to resolve it the way Laredo College did,” Landin said. “If the system is kicking out applicants, then we need to fix that.”
Joe Herrera, a VR Manager at the Texas Workforce Commission Vocations and Rehabilitation, thought the presentation was a
success as it called attention to the issue, and he hopes it may be resolved once and for all.
“It was successful, and it was an issue that I learned about probably 20 years ago or more. It’s that this (driver’s license) is not essential to do the job, and it really plays into discriminating (against) people, and I call it a victory,”
Herrera said. “I want to recognize Cecy Gutierrez, Ms. Sanchez and other folks to get this thing mediated.”
As the city’s HR department continues to resolve the issue, Herrera believes it has taken so long to resolve, even before May 2023, due to some people being stuck in the older, routine way of managing these issues.
“I do think there are
still people married to the old way of doing things, or for whatever reason that may be, but by staying like that, I would like to say that they unintentionally did not realize that they discriminated against other people,” Herrera said. “I’m still a bit perplexed. If this was an easy fix, why didn’t they? But, I am confident that management will fix it and get it right this time.”
