how to filter fields

I have set up a document managemt system using a multi record. I have separate tables for each type of form. catagory. For example there is a table named employment forms. in that table there is an upload field and a text field named catagory. catagory is labeled Employment Forms so that will be echo'd to the page. So in that one table I have the documents for employment. Then there is another table set up the same named registrations for registration documents. On the website there is a documents page that shows all documents for download and are listed by catagory. What I want to do is on a separate page to list just one catagory from that multi record. So on a page that references registrations that I could pull just the documents having to do with registrations. I tried add the like statement

list($docsRecords, $docsMetaData) = getRecords(array(
'tableName' => 'docs',
'where' => " catagories LIKE '%\temployment forms\t%' ", ));

When I use that I get no records found and the page shows nothing.

What code do I use to sort on the field catagories

Thanks