AN ORDINANCE relating to the Human Rights code; extending the amount of time available to a person to file a charge with the Office for Civil Rights regarding unfair employment, public accommodations, and contracting processes; specifying that discrimination includes harassment; and amending Sections 14.04.030, 14.04.090, 14.06.020, 14.06.050, 14.08.020, 14.10.020, and 14.10.060 of the Seattle Municipal Code.
Report of the full council agenda item one Council Bill 119240. An ordinance relating to the Human Rights Code extending the amount of time available to a person to file a charge with the Office for Civil Rights regarding unfair employment, public accommodations and contracting processes. Special assignment specifying that discrimination includes harassment and amending sections 14.0 4.030. And others of the Seattle Mass will code introduced April 16th, 2018. Councilmember Herbold, thank you so much. This bill extends the statute of limitations on sexual harassment claims governed under Chapter 14 of the Seattle Code. This is the chapter related to human rights, as discussed in council briefings this morning. The content of this bill was discussed in my committee both on February 27th and March 27th, and the reintroduced bill before us today includes a title change based on that committee work. The question of Sexual Harassment Statutes of Limitation for the Office of Civil Rights claims brought before the up to the Office of Civil Rights was first brought to my attention by a constituent who reached out because she was experiencing sexual harassment on her campus. She had been bounced around from place to place. And when she was finally referred to the Office of Civil Rights, the current 180 day statute of limitations had already expired. She reached out to my office not to ask for help for herself, but to ask for help in changing the conditions that would make it harder for other people in her situation in the future. The bill itself includes three changes to the Seattle Municipal Code. It extends or maintains in some instances, the statute of limitation for administrative charges enforced by the Office of Civil Rights in the areas of employment contracting, public accommodation and housing discrimination. The extension is to ensure that people can have have the time to file a claim. That is half the time that one also has the right to file a private right of action. So specifically, this legislation extends the statute of limitation from the existing 180 days to a year and a half for areas of employment and contracting . It extends the statute of limitations for 180 days to one year. In the area of public accommodation and it maintains the current one year statute of limitations in the area of housing discrimination. Again, in each instance, the period that is the statute of limitations is one half the time that an individual has has a right to file a private right of action. The bill itself includes the term sexual harassment as a named form of discrimination that has OCR investigates. And I think this is really important because though sexual harassment is a form of discrimination, many people without the word sexual harassment being included in the code are unaware of that. The initial bill discussed at our February 27th briefing also included a definition of sexual harassment because of concerns about potential on an unintended consequences by actually adding a definition of sexual harassment into the law. I offered an amendment to the bill that removes that definition, and the reason being that often definitions change from time to time. And we don't want to be in a situation where we're unnecessarily limiting by our by our definitions in the civil code. Ultimately, my hope is that this bill will help provide an additional tool to people in our city who are experiencing all forms of harassment and sexual harassment in particular. We know that one of the reasons people don't come forward is they may not know that the experiences they're having are sexual harassment. And when even when people are aware that they're experiencing sexual harassment, they often don't know what avenues of recourse are available to them. And there are lots of good reasons why people don't come forward right away by clarifying that sexual harassment is a form of discrimination, that the Office of Civil Rights is authorized to investigate and providing a clear definition for discrimination. I hope that we can provide further clarity to people who are experiencing harassment and discrimination. Thank you very much. Any further comments? Okay. So I will move to pass counts bill 119240. Is there a second? Second. Okay, please call the roll on the passage of the bill. Rosetta I. O'Brien. I. So want I Bextra Gonzalez. I Herbold I Johnson. Whereas I President Harrell all right. I'm in favor and unopposed. Bill passed chair assignment. Chair. Yes. I'm sorry. Council President I just wanted to also before we moved on move on. Thank each the members of the Seattle Women's Commission, the LGBTQ Commission, the Human Rights Commission and the People with Disabilities Commission, as well as the staff from the Office of Civil Rights. And the folks who are with us today representing the Seattle Science Breakers, that their involvement, engagement was critical in moving this forward. Well noted. Well, no. Thank you for presenting that legislation. Please read the next agenda item. The Report of the Civic Development, Public Assets and Native Communities Committee. Agenda Item two Appointment 10053. Appointment of Vernita J. Barton as members Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees for Term two April 1st, 2023. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.