Section 4-517. SEX GUIDELINES

 

517.1The Office and Commission adopt and incorporate by reference the guidelines on sex discrimination promulgated by the EEOC and published at 29 CFR § 1604.

 

517.2Recruiting methods for all job classifications shall be without regard to sex, except where sex is a business necessity.

 

517.3Hiring, assignment, promotion, compensation, lay-off, and all terms, conditions, and privileges of employment shall not be based on the sex of an individual, unless sex is a business necessity. Employers shall not permit creation of a working environment which is hostile, intimidating, or offensive, or otherwise allows harassment related to sex.

 

517.4Women shall not be rejected for employment, suspended or discharged from employment, or required to take leave involuntarily solely on account of pregnancy.

 

517.5Medically verifiable disabilities caused or contributed to by pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, childbirth, and recovery from those disabilities are, for all job-related purposes, to be treated as temporary disabilities under any health or temporary disability insurance policies or sick leave plans available in connection with employment.

 

517.6Written and unwritten employment policies and practices involving matters such as the commencement and duration of leave, the availability of extensions, the accrual of seniority and other benefits and privileges, reinstatement, and payment under any health or temporary disability insurance policies or sick leave plans, formal or informal, shall be applied to disability due to pregnancy or childbirth on the same terms and conditions as they are applied to other temporary disabilities.

 

517.7Sick leave plans shall not exclude illness connected with pregnancy.

 

517.8It shall be considered a discriminatory practice for a person in an employment relationship to overtly threaten or adversely affect another person’s employment status for failure to engage in sexually-related activity on or off the job.

 

517.9It shall be a discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate between men and women with regard to fringe benefits.

 

517.10Fringe benefits for the purpose of this section, shall include, but not be limited to, such items as medical, hospital, accident, and life insurance, retirement benefits, profit-sharing and bonus plans, and leave.

 

517.11No employer shall condition fringe benefits to employees and their spouses and families on whether the employee is the “head of the household” or “principal wage earner” in the family unit, since such a practice discriminatorily affects the rights of women employees, and “head of household” or “principal wage earner” status bears no relationship to job performance. Any such practice shall be viewed as a prima facie violation of the prohibitions against sex discrimination contained in Title I of the Act.

 

517.12It shall be a discriminatory practice for an employer to make available fringe benefits for the spouses and families of employees of one sex, where the same benefits are not made available for the spouses and families of another sex. An example of such an employment practice is a situation in which the spouses of female employees receive benefits for all temporary disabilities, but the spouses of male employees receive benefits for all disabilities but pregnancy.

 

517.13It shall not be a defense under Title I of the Act to a charge of sex discrimination in fringe benefits that the cost of the benefits is greater with respect to one sex than the other.

 

517.14It shall be a discriminatory practice for an employer to have a pension or retirement plan which establishes different optional or compulsory retirement ages based on sex, or which differentiates in benefits on the basis of sex.

 

517.15Insurance plans, including, but not limited to, endowment policies and annuity contracts, shall provide for equal benefits for members of both sexes, even if the employer’s contribution is greater for one sex than it is for another. Employees in protected classes shall not be required to make greater contributions in order to receive equal benefits.

 

source

Final Rulemaking published at 56 DCR 006029 (July 31, 2009).