It is the purpose and intent of the City Council of Baldwin City to protect and safeguard the right and opportunity of all persons to be free from all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran status. The Council’s purpose in enacting this ordinance is to promote the public health and welfare of all persons who live and work in the City of Baldwin City. It is important for the City to ensure that all persons within the City have equal access to employment, housing, and public accommodations.
(Ord. 1412)
For the purposes of this ordinance, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) AGE. An individual’s status as having obtained forty or more years of age.
(b) CITY CONTRACTOR. Any person, corporation, or entity that has a contract to do business with the City of Baldwin City.
(c) DISCRIMINATE, DISCRIMINATION OR DISCRIMINATORY. 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 real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran status.
(d) EMPLOYEE. Any individual employed by or seeking employment from an employer, excluding any individual employed by his or her parents, spouse, or child. Employee does not include an independent contractor.
(e) EMPLOYER. A person or entity who employs one or more employees in the City of Baldwin City, or any agent of such person. Employer shall include the City of Baldwin City and any City Contractor.
(f) FAMILIAL STATUS. Means an individual’s past, current or prospective status as parent or legal guardian to a child or children below the age of eighteen (18) who may or may not reside with that individual.
(g) GENDER IDENTITY. The 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.
(h) MARITAL STATUS. An individual’s past, current, or prospective status as single, married, domestically partnered, divorced, or widowed.
(i) NATIONAL ORIGIN. An individual’s or his or her ancestor’s place of origin.
(j) PLACE OF PUBLIC RESORT, ACCOMMODATION, ASSEMBLAGE, OR AMUSEMENT. Any place, store, or other establishment, either licensed or unlicensed, that supplies accommodations, goods, or services to the general public, or that solicits or accepts the patronage or trade of the general public, or that is supported directly or indirectly by government funds. The term does not include any private club, bona fide membership organization, or other establishment that is not in fact open to the public.
(k) RELIGION. All aspects of religious belief, observance, and practice.
(l) SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Actual or perceived homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.
(m) VETERAN STATUS. An individual’s status as one who served in the active military, naval or air service.
(Ord. 1412)
The right of an otherwise qualified person to be free from discrimination because of that person’s real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran status is recognized as and declared to be a right. This right shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(a) The right to obtain and hold employment and the benefits associated therewith without discrimination.
(b) The right to the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges of any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or amusement without discrimination.
(c) The right to engage in property transactions, including obtaining housing for rental or sale and credit therefor, without discrimination.
(d) The right to exercise any right granted under this ordinance without suffering coercion or retaliation.
(Ord. 1412)
(a) Employment. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer, because of a person, s real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran status to refuse to hire or employ such individual, to bar or discharge such individual from employment, or to otherwise discriminate against such person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment; to limit, segregate, separate, classify, or make any distinction in regards to employees; or to follow any employment procedure or practice which, in fact, results in discrimination, or segregation without a valid business necessity.
(b) Housing. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an individual or entity to discriminate against any individual in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or lease of real property or lease of rental housing, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith, because of a person, s real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran status or to discriminate against any individual in such individual’s use or occupancy of rental housing because of a person’s real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran status .
(c) Public Accommodation. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the owner, operator, lessee, manager, agent, or employee of any place of public accommodation to refuse, deny, or make a distinction, directly or indirectly, in offering its goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations to any individual because of a person’s real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran status.
(d) Nothing in this article shall:
(1) prohibit an employer from requiring an employee, during the employee’s hours at work, to adhere to reasonable dress or grooming standards not prohibited by other provisions of federal, state, or local law.
(2) prohibit a religious organization from limiting the sale, rental, or occupanc.y of real property which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion, or from giving preference to such persons. Nor shall anything in this article prohibit a nonprofit fraternal or social association/corporation in fact not open to the public, which as an incident to its primary purpose or purposes provides lodgings that it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose, from limiting the rental or occupancy of such lodgings to its members or from giving preference to its members.
(3) be construed to prohibit an employer from requiring all of its employees, as a condition of employment, to utilize the employer’s applicable established internal human resource procedure(s) to address any allegation of discrimination or retaliation in the workplace. The fact that an employer requires an employee to utilize the employer’s applicable established internal human resource procedure(s) to address any allegation of discrimination or retaliation in the workplace shall not, in itself, be deemed a violation of this article. However, an employee may simultaneously file a complaint with the city as provided in this ordinance; completion of the employer’s procedures is not a pre-requisite to filing a complaint with the city.
(4) be construed to require any entity subject to this article to make changes requiring a building permit to any existing facility, except as otherwise required by law.
(5) be construed to make it lawful to discriminate or retaliate against individuals on the basis of age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin or ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, marital status, or familial status. Such discrimination and retaliation are not addressed in this article because federal and state law consistently address unlawful discriminatory and retaliatory practices related to those characteristics and provide a complaint, investigation, and enforcement process for such discrimination andretaliation.
(Ord. 1412)
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following are not discriminatory practices prohibited by sections 8-803 and 8-804:
(a) A religious corporation, association, or society that employs an individual of a particular religion to perform work connected with the performance of religious activities by the corporation, association, or society.
(b) An employer who observes the eonditions of a bona fide affirmative action plan or a bona fide seniority system which is not a pretext to evade the purposes of this article.
(Ord. 1412)
(a) Any person claiming to have been subjected to any discriminatory practice as defined by this article may file a complaint by appearing before the governing body and furnishing such information as the city council may require. Any complaint filed pursuant to this article must be filed with the city within 60 days of the date of the discovery of the alleged incident.
(b) Every complaint of a violation of this article shall be referred to the governing body of the city. The city shall forthwith notify the person against whom the complaint is made. The identity of the aggrieved person shall be made known to the person against whom the complaint is made at that time. If the city, after its investigation and the investigation, if any, conducted by authorized employees of the city, finds that there is no merit to the complaint, the same shall be dismissed. If the city finds that there is probable cause to the complaint, in their opinion, then and in that event, the city will endeavor to eliminate the alleged discriminatory practice by conference and conciliation.
(c) If the City finds that probable cause does not exist, then the City shall notify the complainant and respondent(s) and no further action shall be taken by the city. The complainant may appeal the City’s determination to the District Court of Douglas County, Kansas, in accordance with K.S.A. 60-2101(d), and amendments thereto. Within 30 days of service of notice of the appeal pursuant to K.S.A. 60-2101(d), or within further time allowed by the court or by other provision of law, the City shall transmit to the court a certified copy of the City’s written determination and a certified copy of all evidence received by the City during the investigation.
(d) Nothing in this article shall prohibit the mayor of the city from appointing a committee to assist in the review, investigation and determination of any grievances filed hereunder, and the mayor may delegate the necessary authority to the committee to perform any of the duties required of the mayor by this article.
(e) If the city is unable to eliminate the alleged discriminatory practice by conference and conciliation, then and in that event, the city shall forward the complaint to the city attorney for handling. The final determination of whether or not to prosecute on the complaint shall be left to the city attorney.
(Ord. 1412)
If the City determines that a violation has occurred, the City may issue an order to cease and desist from the discriminatory practice and levy a fine of $500 for a first violation, $1000 for a second violation, and $2000 for a third or subsequent violation. These penalties shall be enforceable, if necessary, via an action in municipal court. All proceedings described herein shall be conducted in accordance with Kansas law.
(Ord. 1412)
This ordinance may not be construed to limit any other remedies available under local, state, or federal law.
(Ord. 1412)
The provisions of this article are severable and if any provision, sentence, clause, section or part thereof is held illegal, invalid or unconstitutional or inapplicable to any person or circumstance, such illegality, invalidity, unconstitutionality, or inapplicability shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections or parts of this article or their application to other persons or circumstances. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the governing body that this article would be adopted if such illegal, invalid or unconstitutional provision, sentence, clause, section, or part had not been included therein, and if the person or circumstances to which the article or any part thereof is inapplicable had been specifically exempted therefrom.
(Ord. 1412)