(a) Prohibited Activity. It shall be unlawful for any person to do any of the following acts wholly or partially because of an employee's, independent contractor's or an applicant for employment's actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, national origin, place of birth, sex, age, religion, creed, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, weight or height:
(1) By an employer: To fail or refuse to hire, or to discharge any individual; to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment, including promotion; or to limit, segregate or classify employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities, or otherwise adversely affect his/her status as an employee;
(2) By an employment agency: To fail or refuse to refer for employment of for consideration as an independent contractor any individual; or otherwise to discriminate against any individual;
(3) By a labor organization: To exclude or expel from its membership or to otherwise discriminate against any individual; or to limit, segregate or classify its membership; or to classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive such individual of employment opportunities, or would limit such employment opportunities, or otherwise adversely affect his/her status as an employee or as an applicant for employment;
(4) By a person engaging the services of an independent contractor: To fail or refuse to engage the services of, or to terminate the services of, any independent contractor; to discriminate against any independent contractor with respect to the terms or conditions under which the contracted for work is performed or evaluated or otherwise to deprive or tend to deprive such individual of a fair opportunity to perform the contracted for work;
(5) By an employer, employment agency or labor organization:
(i) To discriminate against any individual in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training or retraining, including any on-the-job training program,
(ii) To print, publish, advertise or disseminate in any way, or cause to be printed, published, advertised or disseminated in any way, any notice or advertisement with respect to employment, membership in, or any classification or referral for employment or training by any such organization, which indicates an unlawful discriminatory preference.
(b) Bona Fide Occupational Qualification Not Prohibited; Burden of Proof.
(1) Nothing contained in this Section shall be deemed to prohibit selection or rejection based upon a bona fide occupational qualification;
(2) In any action brought under Section 3307 of this Article (Enforcement), if a party asserts that an otherwise unlawful discriminatory practice is justified as a bona fide occupational qualification, that party shall have the burden of proving: (1) that the discrimination is in fact a necessary result of a bona fide occupational qualification; and (2) that there exists no less discriminatory means of satisfying the occupational qualification.
(c) Exceptions.
(1) It shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to observe the conditions of a bona fide seniority system or a bona fide employee benefit system, provided such systems or plans are not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of this Article; provided, further, that no such system shall provide a pretext to discriminate against an individual because of his or her actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, national origin, place of birth, sex, age, religion, creed, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, weight, or height;
(2) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to apply to employment by any business which employs five or fewer employees including the owner and any management and supervisorial employees.
(d) Notice. All employers with a business tax registration certificate from the City shall post in conspicuous places, available to employees and independent contractors, a non-discrimination in employment notice in such form and content as shall be created and approved by the Human Rights Commission. The notice shall inform employees and independent contractors that employers and persons engaging the services of an independent contractor are prohibited from discriminating in the recruitment, selection, training, promotion and termination of employees, or in the recruitment, engagement, utilization or termination of independent contractors based on any of the categories specified in this Section. The notice shall measure at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches and be in ten-point type or larger. The notice shall be distributed by the Human Rights Commission to all businesses with a business tax registration certificate issued by the Tax Collector and annually to all new such businesses.
(Amended by Ord. 184-81, App. 4/20/81; Ord. 433-94, App. 12/30/94; Ord. 255-99, File No. 991146, App. 10/8/99; Ord. 101-00, File No. 000476, App. 5/26/2000; Ord. 59-01, File No. 010141, App. 4/13/2001; Ord. 222-02, File No. 021462, App. 11/15/2002)