2.43.030 Unlawful Discriminatory Practices.
(A) Employment. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer, because of the sexual orientation or gender identity of an otherwise qualified person, to refuse to hire or employ such person, to bar or discharge such person 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, segregation or separation without a valid business necessity.
(B) Housing. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice to discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions or privileges of the sale of real property or lease of rental housing, or in the provision of such services or facilities, because of sexual orientation or gender identity, or to discriminate against any person in such person’s use or occupancy of rental housing because of the sexual orientation or gender identity of the people with whom such person associates.
(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, and accommodations to any person as covered by this chapter because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
(D) Defenses. It shall be a defense to any allegation of an unlawful discriminatory practice:
(1) That the person did not know the aggrieved person’s sexual orientation or gender identity;
(2) That the person acted in good faith and had reasonable grounds for believing that an act or omission was not a violation of this chapter; or
(3) Any adverse action taken against the aggrieved person would have been taken regardless of the person’s sexual orientation or gender identity (i.e., the aggrieved person violated the law, a workplace rule, a lease provision or policy applicable to all similarly situated individuals, such as employees, lessees, customers, etc.).
(E) Interpretation. Nothing in this chapter 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 an employer from requiring all employees, as a condition of employment, to utilize the employer’s applicable established internal human resource procedures to address any allegation of discrimination in the workplace. The fact that an employer requires an employee to utilize the employer’s applicable established internal human resource procedures to address any allegation of discrimination or retaliation in the workplace shall not, in itself, be deemed a violation of this chapter. Completion of the employer’s procedures is not a prerequisite to filing a complaint with the City;
(3) Be construed to require any person or entity subject to this chapter to make changes requiring a building permit to any existing facility, except as otherwise required by law;
(4) Be construed to prohibit an employer or public accommodation from posting signs for restrooms or dressing rooms based on gender or require any person to violate another person’s privacy in any restrooms, public shower spaces, or dressing rooms;
(5) Be construed to make it lawful to discriminate against persons on the basis of age, race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin, ancestry, marital status, familial status, or military status. Such discrimination is not addressed in this chapter because federal and state law address unlawful discriminatory practices related to those protected classes and provide a complaint, investigation and enforcement process for such discrimination; or
(6) Be construed to be in conflict with the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, K.S.A. 60-5301 through 60-5305, and amendments thereto. (Ord. 19-77 § 3, 2019.)