On March 23, 2011 Philadelphia expanded the protections afforded by its Fair Practice Ordinance (Ordinance) to include victims of domestic and sexual violence, genetic information, familial status, and life partnership. The Ordinance is applicable to virtually all employers in Philadelphia. Companies with one or more employees, exclusive of immediate family, are required to abide by the Ordinance. All agencies and departments of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia also are required to abide by the Ordinance.
The Ordinance provides protection in employment, disability and public accommodations, and housing. Under the Ordinance, individuals may not be discriminated against on the basis of certain protected characteristics. The protections afforded by the Ordinance prior to March 23, 2011 included: gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, and handicap.1 The recent changes approved by Mayor Nutter expanded the class of individuals against whom discrimination is prohibited to include: (1) victims of domestic and sexual violence; (2) genetic information; (3) familial status; and (4) life partnership.
The definition of a victim of domestic and sexual violence is expansive. An individual is a victim of domestic or sexual violence, as defined by the statute, if he or she was sexually assaulted or raped, sexually abused as a child, or subject to indecent assault.
The Ordinance also protects individuals with certain genetic characteristics, including genetic diseases, genetic disorders, and information gleaned from genetic tests of individuals and their family members. This additional protection is consistent with the recent enactment of the federal Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA). Effective May 21, 2008, GINA prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of family medical history and a genetic predisposition to certain diseases.
The Ordinance also prohibits discrimination on the basis of familial status, protecting individuals who are "a provider of care or support to a family member." Family members include an individual's spouse, life partner, parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Further, those with adoptive and custodial relationships qualify as family members under the Ordinance.
Finally, the Ordinance now prohibits discrimination against two unmarried individuals of the same gender that are in a long-term, committed relationship and share at least one joint residence. To be protected by the Ordinance, the two individuals must be residents of Philadelphia. Alternatively, two individuals in a life partnership qualify for protection if one of the individuals is employed in Philadelphia, owns real property in Philadelphia, or owns or operates a business in Philadelphia.
In addition to expanding the groups of protected individuals, the new legislation increases the penalties against those individuals and entities that violate the law. New penalties include injunctive and monetary relief. The available injunctive relief now includes the ability to require an employer to hire, reinstate, or upgrade the position of the aggrieved individual. Available monetary damages now include compensatory damages, punitive damages (not greater than $2,000 per violation), reasonable attorneys' fees, and costs and expenses.
In order to be in compliance with the new legislation, employers should update their non-discrimination policies to include the above-referenced classes. Employers also should inform key personnel of the changes to the Ordinance. The legislation becomes effective on June 21, 2011.
Footnotes
1 The updates to the Ordinance added the term "disability" to its list of protected characteristics. The Ordinance defines the term "disability" identically to the term "handicap": "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his or her major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment."
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