CHAPTER 516 Discrimination Prohibited

(a) "Advertising" means to make, print, publish, advertise or otherwise disseminate any notice, statement or advertisement, with respect to any employment activity, any business activity, or any educational activity.

(b) "Age" means 18 years of age or older except as otherwise provided by law.

(c) “Business establishment" means any entity, however organized, which furnishes goods, services or accommodations to the general public. An otherwise qualifying establishment which has membership requirements is considered to furnish services to the general public if its membership requirements consist only of payment of fees or consist only of requirements under which a substantial portion of the residents of the City could qualify.

(d) "Disability" or " disabled" means, with respect to an individual, a physical or mental impairment, a record of such an impairment, or being perceived or regarded as having such impairment. For purposes of this chapter, discrimination on the basis of disability means that no covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of that individual's disability. The term "qualified individual with a disability" shall mean an individual with a disability who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the employment positions that the individual holds or desires.

(e) "Discriminate, discrimination or discriminatory" means any act, policy or practice that, regardless of intent, has the effect of subjecting any person to differential treatment as a result of that person' s race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or physical characteristic.

(f) "Educational institution" means any public or private educational institution including an academy, college, elementary or secondary school, extension course, kindergarten, pre- school, nursery school, university, and any business, nursing, professional, secretarial, technical or vocational school.

(g) “Employee" means any individual employed or seeking employment from an employer.

(h) “Employer" means any person who, for compensation, regularly employs four (4) or more individuals, not including the employer' s parents, spouse or children. For purposes of this chapter an employer " regularly" employs four (4) individuals when the employer employs four (4) or more individuals for each working day in any twenty (20) or more calendar weeks in the current or previous calendar year. For purposes of this chapter, an " employer" is also any person acting on behalf of an employer, directly or indirectly, or any employment agency.

(i) "Gender" means actual or perceived sex.

(j) "Gender identity or expression" means having or being perceived as having a gender identity or expression whether or not that gender identity or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that individual at birth.

(k) "Labor organization" means any organization that exists and is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection on behalf of employees.

(1) "Person" means a natural person, firm, corporation, partnership or other organization, association or group of persons however arranged.

(m) "Physical characteristic" means a bodily condition or bodily characteristic of any person that is from birth, accident, or disease, or from any natural physical development, including individual physical mannerisms including but not limited to height and weight. Physical characteristic shall not relate to those situations where a bodily condition or characteristic will present a danger to the health, welfare or safety of any individual.

(n) "Place of public accommodation" means inns, taverns, hotels, motels, restaurants, wholesale outlets, retail outlets, banks, savings and loan associations, other financial institutions, credit information bureaus, insurance companies, dispensaries, clinics, hospitals, theaters, recreational parks and facilities, trailer camps, garages, public halls, and all other establishments which offer goods, services, accommodations and entertainment to the public within the City. A place of public accommodation does not include any institution, club or other place of accommodation, which by its nature is distinctly private.

(o) "Sexual orientation" means actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality.

(p) "Transaction in real estate" means the exhibiting, listing, advertising, negotiating, agreeing to transfer or transferring, whether by sale, lease, sublease, rent, assignment or other agreement, of any interest in real property or improvements thereon. (Ord. 1-16. Passed 6-20-2016.)

(q) "Conversion therapy" means any practices or treatments that seek to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender. Conversion therapy shall not include counseling that provides assistance to a person undergoing gender transition, or counseling that provides acceptance, support and understanding of a person or facilitates a person's coping, social support, and identity exploration and development, including sexual-orientation-neutral intervention to prevent or address conduct or unsafe practices, as long as such counseling does not seek to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.

(r) "Mental health professional" means an individual who is licensed, certified or registered under the laws of the State of Ohio to provide, to an individual or group, mental health services, including but not limited to, the assessment or improvement of mental emotional, psychiatric, psychological, or psychosocial adjustment or functioning, regardless of whether there is a diagnosable, pre-existing disorder or disease. Mental health professions include but are not limited to physicians specializing in the practice of psychiatry, psychologists marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, professions clinical counselors, behavioral clinicians or therapists, nurses or any other persons offering such mental health services. (Ord. 41-18. Passed 10-15-2018.)

516.02 PROHIBITED ACTS OF DISCRIMINATION RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT.

With regard to employment, it shall be unlawful for any employers or labor organizations to engage in any of the following acts, wholly or partially for a discriminatory reason:

(a) To fail to hire, refuse to hire or discharge an individual;

(b) To discriminate against any individual, with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, including promotion. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any employer to provide benefits, such as insurance, to individuals not employed by the employer;

(c) To limit, segregate, or classify employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any employee of employment opportunities, or which would otherwise tend to adversely affect his or her status as an employee;

(d) To fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual in such a manner that would deprive an individual of employment opportunities, that would limit an individual's employment opportunities or that would otherwise adversely affect an individual' s status as a prospective employee or as an applicant for employment;

(e) To discriminate against an individual in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other job training, including an on- the-job training program;

(f) To print or publish, or cause to be printed or published, any discriminatory notice or advertisement relating to employment. This subsection shall not be construed so as to expose the person who prints or publishes the notice or advertisement, such as a newspaper, to liability;

(g) To discriminate in referring an individual for employment whether the referral is by an employment agency, labor organization or any other person.

(Ord. 1-16. Passed 6-20-2016.)

516.03 PROHIBITED ACTS OF DISCRIMINATION RELATING TO HOUSING AND REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS.

With regard to housing and real estate transactions, it shall be unlawful to engage in any of the following acts wholly or partially for a discriminatory reason:

(a) To discriminate by impeding, delaying, discouraging or otherwise limiting or restricting any transaction in real estate;

(b) To discriminate by imposing different terms on a real estate transaction;

(d) To include in the terms or conditions of a real estate transaction any discriminatory clause, condition or restriction;

(e) To discriminate in performing, or refusing to perform, any act necessary to determine an individual's financial ability to engage in a real estate transaction;

(f) For a property manager to discriminate by refusing to provide equal treatment of, or services to, occupants of any real estate which he or she manages;

(g) To make, print or publish, or cause to be made, printed or published any discriminatory notice, statement, or advertisement with respect to a real estate transaction or proposed real estate transaction, or financing relating thereto. This subsection shall not be construed to prohibit advertising directed to physically disabled persons or persons over the age of 55 for the purpose of calling to their attention the existence or absence of housing accommodations or services for the physically disabled or elderly;

(h) To discriminate in any financial transaction involving real estate, on account of the location of the real estate be it residential or non-residential ("red-lining”);

(i) For a real estate operator, a real estate broker, a real estate salesperson, a financial institution, an employee of any of these, or any other person, for the purposes of inducing a real estate transaction from which such person may benefit financially to represent that a change has occurred or will or may occur in the composition with respect to age, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or physical characteristic of the owners or occupants in the block, neighborhood or area in which the real property is located or to represent that this change will or may result in the lowering of property values, an increase in criminal or antisocial behavior, or a decline in the quality of schools in the block, neighborhood or area in which the real property is located ("block- busting");

(j) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) through (h), it shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an owner to limit occupancy on the basis of a person's low- income, age over 55 years or disability status in accordance with federal or state law;

(k) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) through (h), it shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an owner, lessor or renter to refuse to rent, lease or sublease a portion of a single family dwelling unit to a person as a tenant, roomer or boarder where it is anticipated that the owner, lessor or renter will be occupying any portion of the single- family dwelling or to refuse to rent, lease or sublease where it is anticipated that the owner, lessor or renter will be sharing either a kitchen or a bathroom with the tenant, roomer or boarder.

(Ord. 1-16. Passed 6-20-2016.)

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