It is hereby declared as the public policy of the City of West
Hollywood that it is necessary to protect and safeguard the right
and opportunity of all persons to be free from discrimination on account
of religious beliefs.
The city recognizes that the practice of discrimination against
persons on account of religious beliefs deprives the city of the full
utilization of its capacity for development and advancement and substantially
and adversely affects the interest of the city, employees, employers,
and the public in general.
(Prior code § 4240; Ord. 85-15 § 1, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
As used in this chapter:
shall mean and include any person employed by an employer
as defined below.
shall mean and include any person regularly employing one
or more persons, or any person acting directly or indirectly as an
agent of an employer.
shall mean and include any person undertaking for compensation
to procure employees or opportunities to work.
shall mean and include any organization which 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.
shall mean and include one or more individuals, partnerships,
associations, corporations, labor organizations, legal representatives,
trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, and receivers or other fiduciaries.
shall mean and include any traditionally recognized religion
or beliefs, observances, or practices which an individual sincerely
holds and which occupy in his or her life a place of importance parallel
to that of traditionally recognized religions.
(Prior code § 4241; Ord. 85-15 § 2, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
The opportunity to seek, obtain and hold employment without
discrimination on account of religious beliefs is hereby recognized
as and declared to be a right of all persons.
(Prior code § 4242; Ord. 85-15 § 3, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer,
employment agency, or labor organization to do any of the following
acts wholly or partially because of a person's religious beliefs:
a.
To fail
or refuse to hire or promote, transfer, assign, reassign or reward
any employee or applicant or otherwise to discriminate against any
person with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileges
of employment.
b.
To discharge,
discipline, demote, transfer, assign or reassign any employee or applicant
or otherwise to discriminate against any person with respect to compensation,
terms, or conditions of employment.
c.
To limit,
segregate, or classify employees in any way which would deprive or
tend to deprive any person of employment opportunities or otherwise
adversely affect the person's status as an employee.
d.
To refuse
to hire or employ the person or to refuse to select the person for
a training program leading to employment, or to bar or to discharge
such person from employment or from a training program leading to
employment, or to discriminate against such person in compensation
or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment in regard to a
training program.
e.
To exclude,
expel or restrict from membership such person, or to provide only
separate or segregated membership or to discriminate against any person
because of the religious beliefs of such person in the election of
officers of the labor organization or in the selection of the labor
organization's staff or to discriminate in any way against any of
its members or against any employer or against any person employed
by an employer.
f.
To fail
or refuse to refer any person for employment, to limit, segregate
or classify persons seeking employment.
g.
Unless
specifically acting in accordance with federal or state equal employment
opportunity guidelines and regulations, to print or circulate or cause
to be printed or circulated any publication, or to make any non-job-related
inquiry, either verbal or through use of an application form, which
expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification,
or discrimination or any intent to make any such limitation, specification
or discrimination based upon a person's religious beliefs.
h.
To discharge,
retaliate, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person because
the person has opposed any practices forbidden under this chapter
or because the person has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted
in any proceeding under this chapter.
i.
For
any person to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any
of the acts forbidden under this chapter, or to attempt to do so.
j.
To harass
an employee or applicant or any other person, because of religious
beliefs. Harassment of an employee or applicant by an employee other
than an agent or supervisor of the employer shall be unlawful if the
entity, or its agents or supervisors, knows or should have known of
this conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective
action. All reasonable steps to prevent harassment shall be taken.
Loss of tangible job benefits shall not be necessary in order to establish
harassment.
k.
To print,
publish, advertise or disseminate in any way, any notice or advertisement
with respect to employment, membership in, or classification or referral
for employment or training by any organization, which discriminates
based on religious belief.
l.
Observance of Religious Days.
1.
It
shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer to prohibit,
prevent or disqualify any person from, or otherwise to discriminate
against any person in, obtaining or holding employment, because of
an employee's refusal to work on any particular day or days or any
portion thereof as a Sabbath or other holy day in accordance with
the requirements of the employee's religious beliefs.
2.
Except
as may be required in an emergency or where personal presence is indispensable
to the orderly transaction of business, no person shall be required
to remain at his or her place of employment during any day or days
or portion thereof that, as a requirement of the employee's religious
beliefs, the employee observes as a Sabbath or other holy day, including
a reasonable time prior and subsequent thereto for travel between
the employee's place of employment and the place required by such
belief; provided, however, that any such absence from work shall,
wherever practicable in the judgment of the employer, be made up by
an equivalent amount of time and work at some other mutually convenient
time, or shall be charged against any leave with pay ordinarily granted,
other than sick leave; provided further, however, that any such absence
not so made up or charged, may be treated by the employer of such
person as leave taken without pay.
m.
If an
employer, employment agency or labor organization asserts that an
otherwise unlawful discriminatory practice is justified because it
creates an undue hardship upon the conduct of the employer's business,
that employer, employment agency or labor organization shall have
the burden of proving:
(Prior code § 4243; Ord. 85-15 § 4, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
An employer, employment agency or labor organization shall make
reasonable accommodation to the known religious beliefs of an applicant
or employee unless the employer, employment agency, or labor organization
can demonstrate that the accommodation is unreasonable because it
would impose an undue hardship upon the employer's business.
a.
"Reasonable
accommodation" may include, but is not limited to, job restructuring,
job reassignment, modification of work practices, or allowing time
off in an amount equal to the amount of non-regularly scheduled time
the employee has worked in order to avoid a conflict with his or her
religious observances.
b.
In determining
whether a reasonable accommodation would impose an undue hardship
on operations of an employer, employment agency or labor organization,
factors to be considered include, but are not limited to:
1.
The
overall size of the employer, employment agency, labor organization
with respect to the number of employees, number and type of facilities;
2.
The
type of the establishment or operation, days and/or hours of operation,
including the composition and structure of the work force or membership;
3.
The
nature and cost of the accommodation involved;
4.
Reasonable
notice to the employer, employment agency, labor organization of the
need for accommodation; and
5.
Any
available reasonable alternative means of accommodation.
c.
Reasonable
accommodation includes, but is not limited to, the following specific
employment policies or practices:
1.
Scheduled
times for interviews, examinations, and other functions related to
employment opportunities;
2.
Dress
standards or requirements for personal appearance;
3.
An
employer, employment agency or labor organization shall not require
membership from any employee or applicant whose religious creed prohibits
such membership. An applicant's or employee's religious creed shall
be reasonably accommodated with respect to union dues.
(Prior code § 4244; Ord. 85-15 § 5, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
Pre-employment inquiries regarding an applicant's availability
for work on certain days or hours shall not be used as a pretext for
ascertaining his or her religious creed, nor shall such inquiry be
used to evade the requirement of reasonable accommodation. However,
inquiries as to the availability for work on certain days or hours
are permissible where reasonably related to the normal business requirements
of the job in question.
(Prior code § 4245; Ord. 85-15 § 7, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
Every employer, employment agency or labor organizations shall
keep a copy of this chapter posted in an area frequented by employees.
This chapter shall be posted in an area where it may be easily read
by all employees during the workday. If the location or nature of
the employees' work or other condition makes compliance with this
posting requirement impractical, every employer, employment agency
or labor organization shall keep a copy of this chapter and make it
available to every employee upon request.
(Prior code § 4246; Ord. 85-15 § 8, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
Actions under this chapter must be filed within one year of
the alleged discriminatory acts.
(Prior code § 4247; Ord. 85-15 § 10, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
The provisions of this chapter shall be construed liberally
for the accomplishment of its purposes.
(Prior code § 4248; Ord. 85-15 § 11, 1985; Ord. 85-21, 1985)
