civil rights remedies
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Committee on Judiciary |
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Committee on Human Services |
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Committee on Commerce and Economic Development |
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Caucus and COW |
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Third Read |
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As Passed the House |
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HB 2342 makes substantive changes to Arizona voting, public accommodation, and employment discrimination law.
HB 2342 passed the Judiciary Committee unamended.
The Arizona Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1965. In its current form, it offers protections to persons with regard to voting rights, public accommodations, employment and housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, handicap or national origin. Some of these same protections exist under federal law in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In some cases, federal law provides protection to broader classes of people and authorizes compensatory and punitive damages for a civil cause of action.
Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. At the time of its enactment, most states, including Arizona, already had protections in statute for persons with disabilities. Currently, Alabama, Arizona, and Mississippi are the only states that have no employment protection for persons based on a mental disability. The other 47 states and the District of Columbia afford employment protections to persons based both on mental and physical disability.
· Adds sex as a protected class for purposes of public accommodation.
· Increases time to file a charge of a violation of these sections from 60 to 180 days.
· Authorizes the Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General’s Office (CRD) to file a charge to investigate alleged discrimination on its own initiative.
· Eliminates provisions that involve the CRD Advisory Board in the proceedings and instead authorizes the CRD to make findings of fact and enter orders to eliminate the alleged unlawful activity.
· Increases remedies for a violation of Arizona voting or public accommodation law from $300 to a maximum fine of $5,000 for a first offense and a maximum fine of $10,000 for subsequent offenses. Also allows for actual and compensatory damages, court costs, reasonable attorney fees, and injunctive relief.
· Defines the term covered entity as an employer, employment agency, labor organization or joint labor-management committee.
· Adds mental impairment to the definition of disability.
· Removes the disability exception for recent use of alcohol.
· Specifies that disability does not include current use of illegal drugs.
· Redefines reasonable accommodation as making facilities readily accessible to individuals with disabilities and job modifications.
· Defines undue hardship as an action that requires significant difficulty or expense in light of certain factors, including the size and financial resources of the employer.
· Generally prohibits employers from discriminating against a person with a disability and enumerates specific prohibited practices.
· Prohibits employers from inquiring as to whether a person has a disability and from conducting a medical exam to ascertain the same. However, the employer may ask about ability to perform job-related duties and require a medical exam after making an offer of employment in certain circumstances.
· Specifies that a test to determine the illegal use of drugs is not a medical examination.
· Mandates that consideration is given to the employer’s judgment as to what job functions are essential.
Fair Housing
· Changes all references to handicap to disability.
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45th Legislature
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Second Regular Session 3 February
6, 2002
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