As used in this article, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, certain terms are defined as follows. Words importing the masculine extend and shall be applied to the feminine and neuter genders.
(a) "Accessible" means being in compliance with the applicable standards set forth in the following:
(1) The Fair Housing Act (Public Law 90-284, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.);
(2) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.);
(3) The act of September 1, 1965 (P.L. 459, No. 235, 71 P.S. § 1455.1 et seq.), entitled, as amended, "An act requiring that certain buildings and facilities adhere to certain principles, standards and specifications to make the same accessible to and usable by persons with physical disabilities, and providing for enforcement;" and
(4) Other applicable Federal, State or local laws or regulations covering accessibility or accommodations.
(b) "Age" includes any person eighteen (18) years of age or older.
(c) "Aggrieved person" means any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory practice or believes that a discriminatory practice is about to occur.
(d) "Commercial property" means:
(1) Any building, structure or facility, or portion thereof, which is used, occupied or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied for the purpose of operating a business, an office, a manufactory or any public accommodation; and
(2) Any vacant land offered for sale, lease or held for the purpose of constructing or locating thereon any such building, structure, facility, business concern or public accommodation.
(e) "Commission" means the City of York Human Relations Commission.
(f) "Disability," with respect to a person, means:
(1) A physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person's major life activities;
(2) A record of having such an impairment; or
(3) Being regarded as having such an impairment, but such term does not include current, illegal use of or addiction to a controlled substance, as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (Public Law 91- 513, 21 U.S.C. § 802).
(4) As used in this paragraph, the phrase:
A. "Physical or mental impairment" means a physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs; cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genitourinary; hemic and lymphatic; skin and endocrine or a mental or psychological disorder, such as mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.
B. "Major life activities" means functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working.
C. "Has a record of such an impairment" means has a physical or mental impairment that does not substantially limit major life activities but that is treated by an employer or owner, operator or provider of a public accommodation as constituting such a limitation; has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities only as a result of the attitudes of others toward such impairment; or has none of the impairments defined in subsection(f)(4)A. hereof but is treated by an employer or owner, operator, or provider of a public accommodation as having such an impairment.
(g) "Discriminate” or “discrimination” means any difference in treatment in hiring, referring for hire, promoting, training, membership in employee or labor organizations, the sale, lease, rental or financing of housing, rendering service in places of public accommodation, because of race, color, familial status, religious creed, ancestry, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identification, hairstyles and protective and cultural hair textures and hairstyles, disability, or the use of guide or support animals because of the disability of the user or because the user is a handler or trainer of support or guide animals. The term "discrimination" includes segregation, and also includes any act which is unlawful under this article.
(h) "Employee" does not include:
(1) Any individual employed in agriculture or in the domestic service of any person;
(2) Any individuals who, as a part of their employment reside in the personal residence of the employer;
(3) Any individual employed by said individual's parents, spouse or child.
(i) "Employer" means any person who employs four or more employees within the City of York, including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and all political subdivisions, authorities, boards and commissions thereof, including the City of York, but excluding any religious group where selection is on the basis of membership in the religious group and not on the basis of race, color, familial status, ancestry, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identification, hairstyles and protective and cultural hair textures and hairstyles, disability, or the use of a guide or support animal because of the disability of the user or because the user is a handler or trainer of support or guide animals.
(j) "Employment agency" includes any person regularly undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure opportunities to work or to procure, recruit, refer or place employees.
(k) "Fair Housing Act" means Public Law 90-284, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.
(l) "Familial status" means one or more individuals who have not attained the age of eighteen years being domiciled with:
(1) A parent or other person having legal custody of such individual or individuals; or
(2) The designee of such parent or other person having such custody, with the written permission of such parent or other person.
NOTE: The protections afforded against discrimination on the basis of familial status shall apply to any person who is pregnant or is in the process of securing legal custody of any individual who has not attained the age of eighteen years
(m) “Hairstyles” means hair texture and styles of hair of any length, such as protective or cultural hairstyles, natural hairstyles, and other forms of hair presentation.
(n) "Housing accommodation" includes:
(1) Any building, structure, mobile home site or facility, or portion thereof, which is used, occupied or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied as the home residence or sleeping place of one or more individuals, groups or families whether or not living independently of each other; and
(2) Any vacant land offered for sale, lease or held for the purpose of constructing or locating thereon any such building, structure, mobile home site or facility.
The term "housing accommodation" shall not include any personal residence, limited to the exceptions in §804 (except (c)) of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988. (See “v” below).
(o) "Housing for older persons" means housing:
(1) Provided under any State or Federal program that the Commission determines is specifically designed and operated to assist elderly persons (as defined in the State or Federal program and subordinate to any determination made by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development with respect to federally-assisted programs); or
(2) Intended for, and solely occupied by, persons sixty-two (62) years of age or older; or
(3) Intended and operated for occupancy by persons fifty-five (55) years of age or older, and:
A. At least eighty percent (80%) of the occupied units are occupied by at least one person who is fifty-five (55) years of age or older;
B. The housing facility or community publishes and adheres to policies and procedures that demonstrate the intent required under this subsection; and
C. The housing facility or community complies with rules issued by the Commission for verification of occupancy, which shall:
1. Provide for verification by reliable surveys and affidavits; and
2. Include examples of the types of policies and procedures relevant to a determination of compliance with the requirement of subsection (o)(3)C.1. hereof. Such surveys and affidavits shall be admissible in administrative and judicial proceedings for the purposes of such verification.
NOTE: Housing shall not fail to meet the requirements for housing for older persons by reason of persons residing in such housing as of September 13, 1988, who do not meet the age requirements of subsections (o)(1) or (3) hereof.
(p) "Independent contractor" includes any person who is subject to the provisions governing any of the professions and occupations regulated by State licensing laws enforced by the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs in the Department of State, or is included in the Fair Housing Act (Public Law 90-284, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.).
(q) "Labor organization" includes any organization which exists 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 in relation to employment.
(r) "Lending institution" means any bank, insurance company, savings and loan association or any other person or organization regularly engaged in the business of lending money, guaranteeing loans, purchasing loans or providing other financial assistance which is either secured by residential real estate or is for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining a dwelling, or engaged in the selling, brokering, or appraising of residential real property.
(s) "Non-job related disability" means any disability which does not substantially interfere with the ability to perform the essential functions of the employment which a disabled person applies for, is engaged in or has been engaged in. Uninsurability or increased cost of insurance under a group or employee insurance plan does not render a disability job related.
(t) "Owner" includes lessee, sublessee, assignee, manager, agent or any other person having the right of ownership or possession or the authority to sell, rent or lease any housing accommodation, including the City and its departments, boards and commissions.
(u) "Person" includes one or more individuals, partnerships, associations, organizations, corporations, legal representatives, trustees in bankruptcy or receivers. It also includes, but is not limited to, any owner, lessor, assignor, builder, manager, broker, salesman, agent, employee, independent contractor, lending institution, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and all political subdivisions, authorities, boards and commissions thereof, including the City of York.
(v) "Personal residence" means any single-family house sold or rented by an owner, provided:
(1) That such private individual owner does not own more than three such single-family houses at any one time;
(2) That in the case of the sale of any such single-family house by a private individual owner not residing in such house at the time of such sale or who was not the most recent resident of such house prior to such sale, the exemption granted by this subsection shall apply only with respect to one such sale within any twenty-four (24) month period;
(3) That such bona fide private individual owner does not own any interest in, nor is there owned or reserved on his behalf, under any express or voluntary agreement, title to or any right to all or a portion of the proceeds from the sale or rental of, more than three (3) such single-family houses at any one time.
(4) That after December 31, 1969, the sale or rental of any such single-family house shall be excepted from the application of this article only if such house is sold or rented:
A. Without the use in any manner of the sales or rental facilities or the sales or rental services of any real estate broker, agent, or salesman, or of such facilities or services of any person in the business of selling or renting dwellings, or of any employee or agent of any such broker, agent, salesman, or person;
B. Without the publication, posting or mailing, after notice, of any advertisement or written notice in violation of this article but nothing in this proviso shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractors, title companies, and other such professional assistance as necessary to perfect or transfer the title.
The term "personal residence"is limited to rooms or units containing living quarters occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than two (2) families living independently of each other, if the owner actually maintains and occupies one of such living quarters as his residence. "Personal Residence"as defined is limited to the exceptions in §804 (except (c)) of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988.
(w) “Protective and Cultrual Hair Textures and Hairstyles” means hairstyles and hair textures most commonly associated with race, including, but not limited to braids, cornrows, locs, Bantu knots, Afros, and twists, whether or not hair extensions or treatments are used to create or maintain any such style, and whether or not hair is adorned by hair ornaments, beads, or, headwraps.
(x) "Public accommodation, resort or amusement" means provision of service; or any place which is open to, accepts or solicits the patronage of the general public; or offers goods or services to the general public; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and all political subdivisions, authorities, boards and commissions thereof, including the City of York. The term "public accommodation" shall not include any accommodations which are in their nature distinctly private, personal and confidential.
(y) "Real estate-related transaction" means any of the following:
(1) The making or purchasing of loans or providing other financial assistance for purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining a housing accommodation or commercial property.
(2) The purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining a housing accommodation or commercial property.
(3) The selling, brokering or appraising of real property.
(z) "Real estate broker" means any natural person, partnership, association or corporation who, for a fee or other valuable consideration, or other purposes, sells, purchases, exchanges or rents, or negotiates or offers or attempts to negotiate, the sale, purchase, exchange or rental of the real property of another, or holds himself out as engaged in the business of selling, purchasing, exchanging or renting the real property of another, or collects rental for the use of the real property of another or attempts to secure the listing for sale or rental of a housing unit by representing that a change has occurred or will or may occur with respect to the age, racial, religious creed, ethnic, disability, the use of a guide or support animal, sexual orientation, or familial status composition of the street, block, neighborhood or area in which such housing accommodation is located.
(aa) "Real estate salesperson or agent" means any person employed by a real estate broker to perform, or to assist in the performance of, any or all of the functions of a real estate broker, or providing any services in connection therewith.
(ab) "Sexual orientation" means male or female heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or any other gender identity by practice or as perceived by others.
(ac) “Gender identification” means one’s personal sense of their gender. For transgender people, their birth-assigned sex and their own sense of gender identity do not match.
(Ord. 32-2022. Passed 5-18-22.)