§ 14.17.030. Retaliation prohibited

A.

No employer or any other person shall interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right protected under this Chapter 14.17.

B.

No employer or any other person shall take any adverse action against any person because the person has exercised in good faith the rights protected under this Chapter 14.17. Such rights include but are not limited to the right to right to fair chance employment and regulation of an employer's use of arrest and conviction records by this Chapter 14.17; the right to make inquiries about the rights protected under this Chapter 14.17; the right to inform others about their rights under this Chapter 14.17; the right to inform the person's employer, union, or similar organization, and/or the person's legal counsel or any other person about an alleged violation of this Chapter 14.17; the right to file an oral or written complaint with the Agency for an alleged violation of this Chapter 14.17; the right to cooperate with the Agency in its investigations of this Chapter 14.17; the right to testify in a proceeding under or related to this Chapter 14.17; the right to refuse to participate in an activity that would result in a violation of city, state or federal law; and the right to oppose any policy, practice, or act that is unlawful under this Chapter 14.17.

C.

No employer or any other person shall communicate to a person exercising rights protected in this Section 14.17.030, directly or indirectly, the willingness to inform a government employee that the person is not lawfully in the United States; or to report, or to make an implied or express assertion of a willingness to report, suspected citizenship or immigration status of an employee or family member of the employee to a federal, state, or local agency because the employee has exercised a right under this Chapter 14.17.

D.

It shall be a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if an employer or any other person takes an adverse action against a person within 90 days of the person's exercise of rights protected in this Section 14.17.030. However, in the case of seasonal work that ended before the close of the 90 day period, the presumption also applies if the employer fails to rehire a former employee at the next opportunity for work in the same position. The employer may rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that the adverse action was taken for a permissible purpose.

E.

Standard of proof. Proof of retaliation under this Section 14.17.030 shall be sufficient upon a showing that an employer or any other person has taken an adverse action against a person and the person's exercise of rights protected in this Section 14.17.030 was a motivating factor in the adverse action, unless the employer can prove that the action would have been taken in the absence of such protected activity.

F.

The protections afforded under this Section 14.17.030 shall apply to any person who mistakenly but in good faith alleges violations of this Chapter 14.17.

G.

A complaint or other communication by any person triggers the protections of this Section 14.17.030 regardless of whether the complaint or communication is in writing or makes explicit reference to this Chapter 14.17.

(Ord. 124960 , § 31, 2015; Ord. 124201, § 1, 2013.)