503.01 Purpose.
503.03 Definitions.
503.05 Unlawful discriminatory employment practices.
503.07 Unlawful discriminatory housing practices.
503.09 Unlawful discriminatory practices in public accommodations.
503.11 Complaint procedure.
503.13 Complaints alleging unlawful discriminatory practices by the City of Reynoldsburg.
503.15 Failure to comply with a subpoena.
503.17 Failure to comply with an order of the Hearing Officer.
503.19 Failure to pay financial sanctions imposed by the Hearing Officer.
503.21 Ethnic intimidation.
503.23 Severability.
It is the intent of the Reynoldsburg City Council to create safeguards and protections against discrimination and intimidation based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sex, disability, military status, family or marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and natural hairstyle and/or texture.
(Ord. 45-2020. Passed 6-22-20; Ord. 27-2021. Passed 3-23-21.)
As used in this chapter:
(a) "Age" means at least forty (40) years old.
(b) "Aggrieved individual" means an individual who claims to have been injured by an unlawful discrimination act or practice described in this chapter.
(c) "City Attorney" means the individual duly elected pursuant to Section 6.01 of the Charter of the City of Reynoldsburg.
(d) "Complainant" means an aggrieved individual who, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, files with the Clerk of Council a written complaint alleging an unlawful discriminatory act or practice.
(e) "Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one (1) or more major life activities, including the functions of caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working; a record of a physical or mental impairment; or being regarded as having a physical or mental impairment.
(1) "Physical or mental impairment" includes any of the following:
A. Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one (1) or more of the following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs; cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genitor-urinary; hemic and lymphatic; skin; and endocrine;
B. Any mental or psychological disorder, including, but not limited to, orthopedic, visual, speech, and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, sickle cell, human immunodeficiency virus infection, intellectual disabilities, and emotional illness.
(2) "Physical or mental impairment" does not include any of the following:
A. Pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, or other sexual behavior disorders;
B. Compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania;
C. Mental or psychological disorder, or disease or condition, caused by an illegal use of any controlled substance by an employee, applicant, or another individual, if an employer, employment agency, personnel placement service, labor organization, or joint labor management committee acts on the basis of that illegal use.
(f) "Discriminate", "discrimination", or "discriminatory" means to differentiate and treat differently including to segregate or separate.
(g) "Employee" means an individual employed by an employer but does not include any individual employed in the domestic service of any person.
(h) "Employer" means any person who regularly employs for compensation four (4) or more individuals, excluding the employer's parents, spouse, and children, including any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer, provided "employer" does not include a public school system, or an agency of government other than the City.
(i) "Employment agency" means any persons regularly undertaking with or without compensation, to procure opportunities for employment or to procure, recruit, refer, or place employees.
(j) "Familial status" means either of the following:
(1) One (1) or more individuals who are under eighteen (18) years of age and who are domiciled with a parent or guardian having legal custody of the individual or domiciled, with the written permission of the parent or guardian having legal custody, with a designee of the parent or guardian; or
(2) Any person who is pregnant or in the process of securing legal custody of any individual who is under eighteen (18) years of age.
(k) "Gender expression or identity" means actual or perceived gender-related identity, expression, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual's designated sex at birth.
(l) "Hearing Officer" means a neutral independent contractor, hired by the City, who conducts an administrative hearing based on a complaint filed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
(m) "Housing accommodations" including any buildings or structure 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 (1) or more individuals, groups or families, whether or not living independently of each other; and any vacant land offered for sale or lease. It also includes any housing accommodations held or offered for sale or rent by a real estate broker, salesman, or agent, or by any other person pursuant to the authorization of the owner, by the owner, or by such person's legal representative.
(n) "Labor organization" includes any organization that exists, in whole or in part, for the purpose of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or other mutual aid or protection in relation to employment.
(o) "Military status" means a person's status in "Service in the uniformed services" as defined in R.C. § 5923.05.
(p) "Natural hair types and natural styles commonly associated with race" means hairstyle, type, and texture, treated and untreated, as well as protective hairstyles such as natural hair, afros, braids, twists, cornrows, and locks, which hair types and hairstyles are commonly associated with African-Americans and their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities.
(q) "Person" includes one (1) or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees, and trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, and other organized groups of persons. It also includes, but is not limited to, any owner, lessor, assignor, builder, manager, broker, salesman, agent, employee, lending institution; and the City of Reynoldsburg and all political subdivisions, authorities, agencies, boards, and commissions thereof.
(r) "Place of public accommodation" means any inn, restaurant, eating house, barbershop, hotel, motel, bank or other financial services institution, public conveyance by air, land or water, theater, store, or other place for the sale of merchandise, or any other place of public accommodation or amusement where the accommodation advantages, facilities, or privileges thereof are available to the public.
(s) "Protected class" means a classification of individuals based on one (1) or more of the following characteristics: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, familial status, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or natural hair types and natural styles commonly associated with race.
(t) "Public use areas" means interior or exterior rooms or spaces of a privately owned building that are made available to the general public.
(u) "Restrictive covenant" means any specification in a deed, land contract or lease limiting the use of any housing because of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, genetic information, or military status or any limitation based upon affiliation with or approval by any person, directly or indirectly, employing race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, genetic information, or military status as a condition of affiliation or approval.
(v) "Service in the uniformed services" means the performance of duty, on a voluntary or involuntary basis, in a uniformed service, under competent authority, and includes active duty, active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty for training, full-time national guard duty, and performance of duty or training by a member of the Ohio organized militia pursuant to R.C. Chapter 5923. "Service in the uniformed services" includes also the period of time for which a person is absent from a position of public or private employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of the person to perform any duty described in this division.
(w) "Sex" means male, female, neither, or both, and includes pregnancy, any illness arising out of and occurring during the course of a pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
(x) "Sexual orientation" means a person's actual or perceived homosexuality, bisexuality, or heterosexuality.
(y) "Source of income" means lawful income, including but not limited to, income derived from wages, social security, supplemental security income, any form of federal, state or local assistance payments or subsidies, including rent vouchers, child support, spousal support, and public and private assistance which can be verified and substantiated.
(z) "Uniformed services" means the Armed Forces, the Ohio organized militia when engaged in active duty for training, inactive duty training, or full-time national guard duty, the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, and any other category of persons designated by the President of the United States in time of war or emergency.
(aa) "Unlawful discriminatory practice" means any act prohibited by Chapter 503 of the Reynoldsburg Code of Ordinances.
(Ord. 45-2020. Passed 6-22-20; Ord. 27-2021. Passed 3-23-21.)
(a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory employment practice, except where based upon applicable national security regulations established by the United States:
(1) For any employer, because of a person being in a protected class, to discharge without just cause, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to discriminate against that person with respect to hiring, compensation, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter directly or indirectly related to employment.
(2) For an employment agency or personnel placement service, because of a person being in a protected class, to do any of the following:
A. Refuse or fail to accept, register, classify properly, or refer for employment, or otherwise discriminate against any person;
B. Comply with a request from an employer for referral of applicants for employment, if the request directly or indirectly indicates that the employer fails to comply with the provisions of this chapter.
(3) For any labor organization to do any of the following:
A. Limit or restrict its membership on the basis of a person being in a protected class;
B. Discriminate against, limit the employment opportunities of, or otherwise adversely affect the employment status, wages, hours, or employment conditions of any person as an employee because of a person being in a protected class.
(4) For any employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprentice training programs to discriminate against any person because of that person being in a protected class, in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprentice training.
(5) Except where based on a bona fide occupational qualification certified in advance by an agency of the state or federal government or a political subdivision, for any employer, employment agency, personnel placement service, or labor organization, prior to employment or admission to membership, to do any of the following:
A. Elicit or attempt to elicit any information concerning the protected class status of an applicant for employment or membership;
B. Use any form of application for employment, or personnel or membership blank, seeking to elicit information regarding a person's protected class status; provided an employer holding a contract containing a nondiscrimination clause with the government of the United States, or any department or agency of that government, may require an employee applicant for employment to furnish documentary proof of United States citizenship and may retain that proof in the employer's personnel records and may use photographic or fingerprint identification for security purposes;
C. Utilize in the recruitment or hiring of persons any employment agency, personnel placement service, training school or center, labor organization, or any other employee-referring source known to discriminate against persons because of their being in a protected class.
(6) For any employer to discriminate against an individual with a disability in any of the following ways:
A. By limiting, segregating, or classifying a job applicant or employee in a way that adversely affects the opportunities or status of such applicant or employee because of the disability of such applicant or employee.
B. By failing to make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual who is an applicant or employee, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of the employer.
C. By denying employment opportunities to a job applicant or employee who is an otherwise qualified individual with a disability, on the basis of such disabled individual's use of a service animal, provided nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require any employer, as a reasonable accommodation, to provide a service animal to a disabled person.
(7) For any employer to discriminate against a woman affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions for any employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, or to fail to treat a woman so affected the same as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.
(8) For any employer to discriminate against an employee or potential employee on the basis of age in offering any job opening or in the discharge of an employee without just cause who is physically able to perform the duties and otherwise meets the established requirements of the job and laws pertaining to the relationship between employer and employee.
(9) For any employer, employment agency, or labor organization to discriminate against any person because that person has opposed any practice forbidden by this chapter, or because that person has made a complaint or assisted in any manner in any investigation or proceeding under this chapter.
(10) For any person, whether or not an employer, employment agency, or labor organization, to aid, incite, compel, coerce, or participate in the doing of any act declared to be an unlawful discriminatory practice by this chapter, or to obstruct or prevent any person from enforcing or complying with the provisions of this chapter, or to attempt directly or indirectly to commit any act declared by this chapter to be an unlawful discriminatory practice by this chapter.
(b) With regard to age, it shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice and it shall not constitute a violation of this chapter for any employer, employment agency, joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship training programs, or labor organization to do any of the following:
(1) Establish bona fide employment qualifications reasonably related to the particular business or occupation that may include standards for skill, aptitude, physical capability, intelligence, education, maturation, and experience;
(2) Observe the terms of a bona fide seniority system or any bona fide employee benefit plan, including, but not limited to, a retirement, pension, or insurance plan, that is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of this section. However, no such employee benefit plan shall excuse the failure to hire any individual, and no such seniority system or employee benefit plan shall require or permit the involuntary retirement of any individual, because of the individual's age except as provided for in the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act Amendment of 1978", 29 U.S.C.A. 623, as amended by the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act Amendments of 1986," 29 U.S.C.A. 623, as amended, or as later amended.
(3) Retire an employee who has attained sixty-five (65) years of age who, for the two (2)-year period immediately before retirement, was employed in a bona fide executive or a high policymaking position, if the employee is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit-sharing, savings, or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of those plans of the employer of the employee, which equals, in the aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars ($44,000), in accordance with the conditions of the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act Amendment of 1978", 29 U.S.C.A. 631, as amended by the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act Amendments of 1986", 29 U.S.C.A. 631, as amended, or as later amended;
(4) Observe the terms of any bona fide apprenticeship program if the program is registered with the Ohio Apprenticeship Council pursuant to R.C. §§ 4139.01 to 4139.06 and is approved by the federal committee on apprenticeship of the United States Department of Labor.
(c) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit any of the following:
(1) The designation of uniform age the attainment of which is necessary for public employees to receive pension or other retirement benefits pursuant to R.C. Chapter 145, 742, 3307, 3309, or 5505;
(2) The establishment of maximum age requirements for original appointment to a police department or fire department pursuant to R.C. §§ 124.41 and 124.42;
(3) Any establishment of a maximum age not in conflict with federal law that may be established by a municipal charter, municipal ordinance, or resolution of a board of township trustees for original appointment as a police officer or firefighter;
(4) Any establishment of a mandatory retirement provision not in conflict with federal law, a municipal charter, municipal ordinance, or resolution of a board of township trustees pertaining to police officers and firefighters.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a person with a disability to be employed or trained under circumstances that would significantly increase the occupational hazards affecting either the person with a disability, other employees, the general public, or the facilities in which the work is to be performed, or to require the employment or training of a person with a disability in a job that requires the person with a disability routinely to undertake any task, the performance of which is substantially and inherently impaired by the person's disability.
(e) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit an employer, employment agency, personnel placement service, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee from doing any of the following:
(1) Adopting or administering reasonable policies or procedures, including, but not limited to, testing for the illegal use of any controlled substance, that are designed to ensure that an individual no longer is engaging in the illegal use of any controlled substance. For purposes of this chapter, a test to determine the illegal use of any controlled substance does not include a medical examination;
(2) Prohibiting the illegal use of controlled substances and the use of alcohol at the workplace by employees;
(3) Requiring that employees not be under the influence of alcohol or not be engaged in the illegal use of any controlled substance at the workplace;
(4) Requiring that employees behave in conformance with the requirements established under "The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988", 41 U.S.C.A. 701, as amended;
(5) Holding an employee who engages in the illegal use of any controlled substance or who is an alcoholic to the same qualification standards for employment or job performance, and the same behavior, to which the employer, employment agency, personnel placement service, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee holds other employees, even if any unsatisfactory performance or behavior is related to an employee's illegal use of a controlled substance or alcoholism;
(6) Exercising other authority recognized in the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990", 42 U.S.C.A. 12101, as amended, including, but not limited to, requiring employees to comply with any applicable federal standards.
(f) This section does not apply to any religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society with respect to the employment of an individual of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by that religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society of its activities.
(g) Whoever violates this section is guilty of an unlawful discriminatory employment practice.
(Ord. 45-2020. Passed 6-22-20; Ord. 27-2021. Passed 3-23-21.)
Loading...