14-02.4-02. Definitions

14-02.4-02. Definitions In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Age" insofar as it refers to any prohibited unfair employment or other practice means at least forty years of age. 2. "Aggrieved person" includes any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory practice. 3. "Court" means the district court in the judicial district in which the alleged discriminatory practice occurred. 4. "Department" means the division of human rights within the department of labor and human rights. 5. "Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of this impairment, or being regarded as having this impairment. 6. "Discriminatory practice" means an act or attempted act which because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, status with regard to marriage or public assistance, or participation in lawful activity off the employer's premises during nonworking hours which is not in direct conflict with the essential business-related interests of the employer results in the unequal treatment or separation or segregation of any persons, or denies, prevents, limits, or otherwise adversely affects, or if accomplished would deny, prevent, limit, or otherwise adversely affect, the benefit of enjoyment by any person of employment, labor union membership, public accommodations, public services, or credit transactions. The term "discriminate" includes segregate or separate and for purposes of discrimination based on sex, it includes sexual harassment. Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexually motivated physical conduct or other verbal or physical conduct or communication of a sexual nature when: a. Submission to that conduct or communication is made a term or condition, either explicitly or implicitly, of obtaining employment, public accommodations or public services, or education; b. Submission to or rejection of that conduct or communication by an individual is used as a factor in decisions affecting that individual's employment, public accommodations or public services, education, or housing; or c. That conduct or communication has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual's employment, public accommodations, public services, or educational environment; and in the case of employment, the employer is responsible for its acts and those of its supervisory employees if it knows or should know of the existence of the harassment and fails to take timely and appropriate action. 7. "Employee" means a person who performs services for an employer, who employs one or more individuals, for compensation, whether in the form of wages, salaries, commission, or otherwise. "Employee" does not include a person elected to public office in the state or political subdivision by the qualified voters thereof, or a person chosen by the officer to be on the officer's political staff, or an appointee on the policymaking level or an immediate adviser with respect to the exercise of the constitutional or legal powers of the office. Provided, "employee" does include a person subject to the civil service or merit system or civil service laws of the state government, governmental agency, or a political subdivision. 8. "Employer" means a person within the state who employs one or more employees for more than one quarter of the year and a person wherever situated who employs one or more employees whose services are to be partially or wholly performed in the state. 9. "Employment agency" means a person regularly undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunity to work for an employer and includes any agent of the person. 10. "Labor organization" means a person, employee representation committee, plan in which employees participate, or other organization which exists solely or in part for the purpose of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment. 11. "National origin" means the place of birth of an individual or any of the individual's lineal ancestors. 12. "Otherwise qualified person" means a person who is capable of performing the essential functions of the particular employment in question. 13. "Person" means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, unincorporated organization, mutual company, joint stock company, trust, agent, legal representative, trustee, trustee in bankruptcy, receiver, labor organization, public body, public corporation, and the state and a political subdivision and agency thereof. 14. "Public accommodation" means every place, establishment, or facility of whatever kind, nature, or class that caters or offers services, facilities, or goods to the general public for a fee, charge, or gratuity. "Public accommodation" does not include a bona fide private club or other place, establishment, or facility which is by its nature distinctly private; provided, however, the distinctly private place, establishment, or facility is a "public accommodation" during the period it caters or offers services, facilities, or goods to the general public for a fee, charge, or gratuity. 15. "Public service" means a public facility, department, agency, board, or commission owned, operated, or managed by or on behalf of this state, a political subdivision thereof, or a public corporation. 16. "Readily achievable" means easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense by a person engaged in the provision of public accommodations. 17. "Reasonable accommodations" means accommodations by an employer that do not: a. Unduly disrupt or interfere with the employer's normal operations; b. Threaten the health or safety of the individual with a disability or others; c. Contradict a business necessity of the employer; or d. Impose undue hardship on the employer, based on the size of the employer's business, the type of business, the financial resources of the employer, and the estimated cost and extent of the accommodation. 18. "Sex" includes pregnancy, childbirth, and disabilities related to pregnancy or childbirth. 19. "Status with regard to public assistance" means the condition of being a recipient of federal, state, or local assistance, including medical assistance, or of being a tenant receiving federal, state, or local subsidies, including rental assistance or rent supplements.