For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. Those acts which the Commission deems necessary to assure compliance with this Human Rights Ordinance.
COMMISSION. The county’s Human Rights Commission hereinafter created.
COMMISSION ATTORNEY. The County Attorney, or such assistants of the County Attorney as may be assigned to the Commission by the County Attorney, or such other attorney who voluntarily lends his or her services at the request of the Commission.
COMPLAINANT. Any individual charging on his or her own behalf to have been personally aggrieved by a discriminatory practice, or by a Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission, charging that a discriminatory practice was committed against a person other than himself or herself, or a class of people, in order to vindicate the public policy of the state, as defined § 31.01.
COMPLAINT. Any written agreement filed by a complainant with the Commission.
(1) (a) The original COMPLAINT shall be signed and verified before a notary public or ether person duly authorized by law to administer oaths and take acknowledgments.
(b) Notarial service shall be furnished by the Commission without charge.
(2) To be acceptable, a COMPLAINT shall be sufficiently complete so as to reflect the full name and address of the complainant; the name and address of the respondent, the individual against whom the COMPLAINT is made; the alleged discriminatory practice and a statement of the particulars thereof; the date, or dates, and places of the alleged discriminatory practice, and, if the alleged discriminatory practice is of a continuing nature, the dates between which said continuing acts of discrimination are alleged to have occurred; and a statement as to any other action, civil or criminal, instituted in any other form based upon the same grievance as is alleged in the COMPLAINT, together with a statement as to the status or disposition of such other action.
(3) No COMPLAINT shall be valid unless filed with the Commission within 90 days of the date of the occurrence of the alleged discriminatory practice or from the date of the termination of a published and meaningful grievance procedure provided by a respondent employer or labor union.
CONSENT AGREEMENT. A formal agreement entered into in lieu of adjudication.
DIRECTOR. The Director of the county’s Human Rights Commission.
DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE.
(1) (a) The exclusion of a person from equal opportunities because of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry;
(b) A system which excludes persons from equal opportunities because of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry; or
(c) The promotion of racial segregation or separation in any manner, including, but not limited to, the inducing of, or the attempting to induce, for profit, any person to sell or rent any dwelling by representation regarding the entry into the neighborhood of a person of a particular race, religion, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry.
(2) Every DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE relating to the acquisition or sale of real property, education, public accommodation, or employment shall be considered unlawful unless specifically exempted by this subchapter.
EMPLOYEE. Includes any person employed by another for wages or salary; provided, however, that it should not include any individual employed by his or her parents, spouse, or child, or in the domestic service of any person.
EMPLOYER.
(1) Includes the state, or any political or civil subdivision thereof, and any person employing six or more persons within the state.
(2) EMPLOYER does not include any not-for-profit corporation or association organized exclusively for fraternal or religious purposes; nor any school, educational, or charitable religious institution owned, conducted by, or affiliated with a church or religious institution; nor any exclusively social club, corporation, or association that is not organized for profit.
EMPLOYMENT AGENCY. Any person undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure, recruit, refer, or place employees.
HANDICAPPED PERSONS.
(1) All individuals who, by reason of physical or mental defects or infirmity, whether congenital or acquired by accident, injury, or disease, are, or may hereafter be, totally or partially prevented from achieving the fullest attainable physical, social, economic, mental, and vocational participation in the normal process of living.
(2) HANDICAPPED PERSONS shall include, but not be limited to, blind and visually handicapped individuals.
HOUSING ACCOMMODATION.
(1) Any real property, or portion thereof, which is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged, or designed to be used or occupied, as a home, residence, or sleeping place of one or more persons; or any single family residence the occupants of which rent, lease, or furnish for compensation not more than one room therein.
(2) The term shall not include any hotels, lodging places, or other pieces of public accommodations, amusement, or resort of a transient nature.
LABOR UNION OR ORGANIZATION. Any organization which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or for other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment.
PERSON. Includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, labor organizations, cooperatives, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, and other organized groups of persons.
PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION. Any establishment which caters or offers its services, facilities, or goods to the general public.
SEX. As it is applied to segregation or separation in this subchapter, shall apply to all types of employment, education, public accommodations, and housing; provided, however, that:
(1) It shall not be a discriminatory practice to maintain separate restrooms;
(2) It shall not be any unlawful employment practice for an employer to hire and employ employees, for an employment agency to classify, or refer for employment, any individual; or a labor union or organization to classify its membership, or to classify, or refer for employment, any individual; or for an employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship, or other training or retraining programs, to admit or employ any other individuals in any such program on the basis of SEX in those certain instances where SEX is a bonafide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise; and
(3) It shall not be a discriminatory practice for a private or religious educational institution to continue to maintain and enforce a policy of admitting students of one SEX only.
(Ord. 74-I, passed 6-3-1974)