AB 1556: Employment discrimination: unlawful employment practices.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination, abridgment, or harassment on account of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status, except as specified. The FEHA also prohibits the owner of any housing accommodation from discriminating against any person because of the race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, or genetic information of that person. In furtherance of these purposes, the FEHA establishes the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Fair Employment and Housing Council and prescribes the duties of that department and council. The FEHA also establishes procedures for the prevention and elimination of unlawful employment practices and of discrimination in housing.

Existing law requires every employer in this state to permit any employee who indicates in writing a desire in a reasonable time and can demonstrate the ability to do so, to continue his or her employment beyond any retirement date contained in any private pension or retirement plan.

Existing law, the Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, as defined, to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period (1) to bond with a child who was born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee, (2) to care for the employees parent, spouse, or child who has a serious health condition, as defined, or (3) because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering him or her unable to perform the functions of the job.

This bill would revise these provisions by deleting gender-specific personal pronouns and by making other conforming changes.

Existing law makes it an unlawful employment practice, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification, for the governing board of any school district to, among other things, refuse to hire or employ a female person because of pregnancy or for an employer to, among other things, refuse to allow a female employee disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition to take a leave for a reasonable period of time not to exceed 4 months and thereafter return to work.

This bill would make these provisions gender neutral by deleting references to female person and female employee and referring instead to person and employee and by making other conforming changes.