Cook County’s Human Rights Commission Has Posted 791 Decisions. 40 Are Labeled Substantial Evidence — and Five of Those Are Dated Since 2019

How the posted decisions end

Every posted decision. The 791 decisions belong to 690 case numbers; a case can have more than one, and one decision carries no case number.

Determination, as the file labels it	Decisions
Procedural Dismissal	677
Substantial Evidence	40
Reconsideration Denied	32
Order Extending Time	20
Order Denying Motion to Dismiss	8
Reconsideration Granted	2
Dismissal Granted	2
Order of Stay	2
Order to Compel	2
Removal to Circuit Court	2
Order Denying Request for Reconsideration	1
Order Authorizing Enforcement	1
Order Resuming Investigation	1
Order of Discovery	1
All decisions	791

The reason the file gives for each of the 677 procedural dismissals.

Basis of a procedural dismissal	Decisions
Lack of Jurisdiction	184
Settlement	144
Voluntary Withdrawal	108
Failure to State a Claim	75
Lack of Substantial Evidence	71
Deferral	35
Failure to Cooperate	33
Default	10
Not given (NA)	9
Consolidation	2
No Violation	2
Duplicate	1
Withdrawal	1
Want of Prosecution	1
Removal to Circuit Court	1
All procedural dismissals	677

Read together, the two tables say that a posted decision is far more likely to close a complaint than to find substantial evidence behind it. Lack of jurisdiction alone accounts for 184 decisions, more than four times the 40 labeled Substantial Evidence; settlements, 144, and voluntary withdrawals, 108, are the next most common endings. Dismissals for lack of substantial evidence, 71, outnumber the findings of it.

By kind of complaint

Settlements and lack of jurisdiction are bases of procedural dismissals. Case numbers are counted within each type; two appear under two types.

Case type, as the file labels it	Decisions	Case numbers	Substantial Evidence	Settlements	Lack of jurisdiction
Employment	349	300	17	53	61
Housing	176	152	6	31	55
Public Accommodation	103	82	1	14	26
Just Housing	49	47	1	27	2
Paid Leave	44	43	0	11	19
County Services	31	29	0	0	13
Living Wage	20	20	15	4	0
Earned Sick Leave	12	12	0	2	7
Minimum Wage	5	5	0	0	1
Credit Transaction	2	2	0	2	0

Employment complaints produce the most decisions, 349, and 17 of the findings of substantial evidence. The Living Wage category stands apart: 15 of its 20 decisions are labeled Substantial Evidence, and all 15 are dated 2017. Housing decisions number 176, with lack of jurisdiction the most common ending (55). The Just Housing category, whose decisions are dated from October 2020, has 49; 27 of its 47 procedural dismissals are settlements. Paid Leave decisions, dated from July 2024, number 44, and all are procedural dismissals.

When the decisions are dated

By decision date. 2013 begins on September 10, the earliest date in the file.

Year of decision	Decisions	Substantial Evidence
2013	30	0
2014	111	5
2015	50	4
2016	30	4
2017	59	19
2018	25	3
2019	13	1
2020	14	1
2021	46	0
2022	109	2
2023	89	0
2024	98	0
2025	117	1

Findings of substantial evidence cluster early: 19 are dated 2017, 15 of them Living Wage decisions. From 2019 through 2025 the file posts 486 decisions and five findings of substantial evidence, about one in a hundred. The busiest recent years, 2022 and 2025 with 109 and 117 decisions, carry two findings and one. The latest posted decision is dated December 18, 2025; none dated 2026 appears in the file as updated September 3, 2026.

What the file confirms, and what it cannot tell you

Confirmed, as posted: each decision’s date, case type, determination and, for dismissals, the stated basis. The file’s keepers say they are still updating it, so these are the decisions posted so far, not every decision the Commission has entered, and not a count of complaints filed. Two labels do not match their notes. The description says the file leaves out orders extending time, yet 20 rows carry that determination. And the year field, which its note calls the fiscal year the order was filed, matches the year in the case number on 790 of 791 rows, reaching back to 2000 on decisions dated 2013 or later, so this page times decisions by their dates instead. The orders themselves, linked from each row, name the parties; they were not opened, and no case number is published here.

Where the record lives

The Human Rights Decisions file sits on Cook County’s data portal, each row linked to the order it summarizes. Every figure here was computed from it as retrieved on September 18, 2026.

The bottom line

Most of the Cook County Commission on Human Rights’ posted decisions close complaints on procedure, and findings of substantial evidence are rare — 40 of 791, with 19 of them in 2017 and five dated since 2019.

Three questions the file can answer

How many posted decisions found substantial evidence? 40 of 791. What is the most common reason for a procedural dismissal? Lack of jurisdiction, 184. Which kind of complaint has the most decisions? Employment, 349.

• Source: Cook County’s Human Rights — Decisions file (b5sv-ucke), retrieved September 18, 2026.
• Read: case number, year field, case type, decision date, determination and basis for every row; the document links were not read.
• Counted: decisions, distinct case numbers, and determinations and bases as labeled.
• Not here: any party, any case number, the text of any order, and any claim about why a complaint ended as it did.

Computed by KCM Desk from the Cook County Commission on Human Rights’ posted decisions file, retrieved September 18, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.

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