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Ordinance No. 656

AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE

PROHIBITING AIDS DISCRIMINATION


The Board of Supervisors of the County of Riverside, State of California, Ordains as Follows:

 

Section 1. FINDINGS. The Board of Supervisors finds and declares:

a. That the medical condition described as Acquired Immune

Deficiency Syndrome, commonly known as AIDS, is a deadly disease which has the potential to affect every segment of our County's population;

b. That AIDS, in the opinion of the scientific and medical

community, is caused by a virus, known as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) (or in the past, HTLV-III or LAV), which attacks and cripples the body's immune system and neurological system, thereby leaving the body vulnerable to opportunistic infections, certain cancers and neurological diseases;

c. That a person afflicted with AIDS suffers a variety of

bacterial, viral, and/or fungal caused illnesses, cancers, protozoan and neurological conditions which debilitate the body resulting in a high mortality rate within several years after diagnosis;

d. That the transmission of the virus has occurred through

transfer of blood, blood by-products, and body organs; through intimate sexual contact; through the sharing of hypodermic needles used in drug injections; or perinatally;

e. That no evidence exists to indicate the spread of the virus

through casual contact, such as contact at work or at school, through the air or water or through the handling of food by persons having the AIDS virus;

f. That medical studies of family groups in which one or more

persons have been diagnosed with AIDS show no spread of the virus other than through sexual intimacy or through the exchange of blood, such as mother to fetus;

g. That a public health danger represented by the HIV virus and

its subsequent manifestation as AIDS is caused by the lengthy incubation period during which period an apparently healthy but infected individual may spread the disease to other persons through the transfer of blood, blood by-products, body organs, semen, or vaginal/cervical secretions, perinatally or through the sharing of hypodermic needles used in drug injections;

h. That AIDS has been recognized as a national public health

emergency with a large proportion of the cases diagnosed in California;

i. That AIDS, in the opinion of the scientific and medical

community, will continue to increase at a high rate within our County for the foreseeable future;

j. That persons with AIDS, AIDS-related complex (ARC), or in an

AIDS-related status (ARS), including persons infected with the AIDS virus who may never show AIDS symptoms or develop the disease, are faced with potential discrimination, and such potential for discrimination is sufficient to justify a County ordinance to prohibit those discriminatory practices which are not currently adequately addressed by federal and state law.

 

Section 2. PUBLIC POLICY. It is hereby declared as the public policy of the County of Riverside that it is necessary to protect and safeguard the rights and opportunities of persons with AIDS, ARC or ARS in respect to discrimination in housing, business establishments, and County facilities and services.

 

Section 3. DEFINITIONS.

a. AIDS means Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease

complex which occurs when an important part of the human immune system is destroyed by the action of a human immune deficiency virus known as HIV and previously referred to as HTLV-III or LAV and as it may be further defined by the United States Public Health Services Center for Disease Control. AIDS is manifested by infections, cancers or neurological diseases;

b. ARC means AIDS-related complex. ARC occurs when the human

immune system is weakened by the AIDS virus, and such conditions as enlarged lymph nodes, fever, weight loss, malaise, and chronic diarrhea result. ARC may or may not develop into AIDS.

c. ARS means AIDS-related status. Such status includes:

1. A person who is HIV positive;

2. A person, who because of association with another person

having AIDS, ARC, or is HIV positive, is regarded as very likely to contract the virus that causes AIDS; and

3. A person who perceived and dealt with by other others as

though being infected with the virus that causes AIDS because of such person's association with another person diagnosed as having AIDS, ARC, or who is HIV positive.

d. BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENT includes any entity, however

organized, which furnishes goods or services, including educational services, or accommodations to the general public; including any entity which as a membership requirement if its membership requirement consists only of the payment of membership fee and a substantial number of the residents within the County of Riverside could qualify.

e. EMPLOYEE includes any person employed by an employer.

f. EMPLOYER means any person regularly employing one or more

persons, or any person acting as an agent of an employer, directly or indirectly.

g. EMPLOYMENT AGENCY means any person regularly undertaking

compensation to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer and includes an agent of such a person.

h. HOUSING ACCOMMODATION includes any improved or unimproved

real property, or portion thereof, which is used or occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied, as the home, residence, or sleeping place of one or more persons.

i. HOUSING SERVICES shall mean services otherwise provided by

the owner of any housing accommodation to persons renting or leasing such housing accommodation, including but not limited to, utilities such as light, heat, water and telephone; ordinary repairs or replacement, and maintenance, including painting; elevator services, laundry facilities and privileges, the use of common recreational facilities, janitorial services, resident manager, refuse removal, furnishings, food service, parking and any other benefits, privileges or facilities provided;

j. LABOR ORGANIZATION means 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.

k. OWNER includes the lessee, sublessee, assignee, managing

agent, real estate broker or salesman, or any person having any legal or equitable right of ownership or possession or the right to rent or lease housing accommodations.

l. PERSON includes one or more individuals, partnerships,

associations, corporations, labor organizations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, and receivers or other fiduciaries;

 

Section 3. HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS AND HOUSING SERVICES.

a. It shall be unlawful for any owner of any housing

accommodation or housing service to discriminate against any person because such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS.

b. Nothing in this section shall:

1. Apply to any housing accommodation in which the owner or

any member of his or her family occupies the same housing accommodation in common with the prospective tenant. This exception shall not apply where the owner occupies a separate apartment, condominium or other housing unit in a multiple-unit complex.

2. Permit or require the rental or occupancy of any housing

accommodation otherwise prohibited by law.

3. Otherwise interfere with any just cause for an owner to

evict a person from any housing accommodation or permit the delay of any unlawful detainer action.

 

Section 4. BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS. It shall be unlawful for any person to deny any person the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and accommodations of any business establishment on the grounds that such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS.

 

Section 5. COUNTY FACILITIES AND SERVICES.

a. It shall be unlawful to deny any person the full and equal

enjoyment of, or to impose less advantageous terms, or restrict the availability of, the use of any County facility or participation in any County funded or supported service or program on the grounds that such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS.

b. Nothing in the section shall:

1. Apply to any facility, service or program which does not

receive any assistance from the County and which is not open to or provided to the public generally;

2. Restrict services or programs specifically designed for

persons with AIDS, ARC or ARS.

 

Section 6. EMPLOYMENT.

a. It shall be unlawful:

1. For an employer:

a) To fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any

person, or otherwise to discriminate against any person with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS; or

b) To limit, segregate, or classify his employees or

applicants for employment in any which would deprive or tend to deprive any person of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS.

 

2. For an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for

employment, or otherwise to discriminate against, any person, or to classify or refer for employment any person on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS.

3. For a labor organization:

a) To exclude or to expel from its membership or

otherwise to discriminate against, any person on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS;

b) To limit, segregate, or classify its membership or

applicants for membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any person, in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any person of employment opportunities, or would limit such employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee or as an applicant for employment, on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS; or;

c) To cause or attempt to cause an employer to

discriminate against any person in violation of this section.

4. For any employer, labor organization, or joint

labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining, including on-the-job training programs, to discriminate against any person on the basis of AIDS, ARC or ARS in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training.

b. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, it

shall not be unlawful:

1. For an employer to hire and employ employees, for an

employment agency to classify, or to refer for employment any person, for a labor organization to classify its membership or to classify or refer for employment any person, or for an employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining programs to admit or employ any person in any such program, on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS in those certain instances where lack of AIDS, ARC or ARS is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise.

2. For an employer to apply different standards of

compensation, or different terms, conditions or privileges of employment pursuant to a bona fide seniority or merit system, or a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production or to employees who work in different locations, provided that such differences are not the result of an intention to discriminate against a person on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS.

3. For an employer to give and to act upon the results of

any professionally developed ability test provided that such test, its administration or action upon the results of such tests is not designed, intended or used to discriminate against a person on the basis such person has AIDS, ARC or ARS.

 

Section 7. ADVERTISING. It shall be unlawful to make, print,

publish, advertise or disseminate in any way, or cause to be made, printed, published, advertised disseminated in any way, any notice, statement, sign, advertisement, application or contract which indicates an intent to engage in any practice made unlawful by this chapter.

 

Section 8. ASSOCIATION AND RETALIATION.

a. Association. It shall be unlawful for any person to do any

of the acts prohibited by this chapter, as a result of the fact that a person associates with anyone who has AIDS or any condition related thereto covered by this chapter.

b. Retaliation. It shall be unlawful for any person to do any

of the acts prohibited in this chapter or to retaliate against a person because a person:

1. Has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by this

chapter;

2. Has supported this chapter and its enforcement;

3. Has testified, assisted or participated in any way in

any investigation, proceeding, or litigation under this chapter.

 

Section 9. EXCEPTIONS.

a. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit any

act specifically authorized by the laws of the United States, the State of California or the County of Riverside or any act required by the County Department of Health Services to protect the public health.

b. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit any act which is

necessary to protect the health or safety of the general public. If a party to any action brought under this chapter asserts that an otherwise discriminatory practice is justified as necessary to protect the health or safety of the general public, that party shall have the burden of proving:

1. That the discrimination is in fact a necessary result of

a necessary result of a necessary course of conduct pursued to protect the health or safety of the general public; and

2. That there exists no less discriminatory means of

satisfying the necessary protection of the health or safety of the general public.

 

Section 10. LIABILITY AND DAMAGES. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter or who aids in the violation of any provisions of this chapter is liable for each and every such offense for damages up to a maximum of three times the amount of actual damages, for punitive damages as may be determined by a jury or a court sitting without a jury, and for costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, as may be determined by the court.

 

Section 11. ENFORCEMENT.

a. Any aggrieved person may enforce the provisions of this

chapter by means of a civil action.

b. Any person who commits, or proposes to commit, an act in

violation of this chapter may be enjoined therefrom by a court of competent jurisdiction.

c. An action for injunction under subdivision (b) may be

brought by any aggrieved person or by any person or entity which will fairly and adequately represent the interests of the aggrieved person.

d. Nothing in this chapter shall preclude any aggrieved person

from seeking any other remedy provided by law.

e. An action arising under this chapter shall not be rendered

moot because of the death or physical or mental incapacity of the person who was the subject of the claimed discrimination.

f. Notwithstanding any provision of law, no criminal penalties

shall attach for any violation of the provisions of this chapter.

 

Section 12. SEVERABILITY. If any part or provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the chapter, including the application of such part or provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby and shall continue in full force and effect. To this end, provisions of this chapter are severable.

 

Section 13. This Ordinance shall take effect thirty days after the date of adoption.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADOPTED: 05-24-88 (Eff.: 06-23-88)

 

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