Members of the Administrative Services are set to discuss a sweeping new ordinance that will allow customers and employees of private businesses to file discrimination complaints against local firms, possibly causing the business to suffer a fine and public shame.
The ordinance is broad and covers everything from hiring discrimination to possible conflicts between management and employees as well as customer complaints against the business.
The language of the ordinance states: “It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for a business, because of the race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or military status of any person” to engage in any form of perceived discrimination.
The ordinance states that companies cannot refuse to hire someone belonging to the protected groups but also notes that businesses cannot be forced to hire “unqualified or incompetent personnel.” The ordinance also covers those who may refuse to sell or lease real estate to protected groups or refuse goods and services to anyone in the protected group.
[adrotate banner=”23″]
What this means is that prospective employees can file a complaint if they believe a business discriminated in the hiring process by not offering them jobs. Employees can take their employers to civil court over perceived discrimination, and even customers of a business can file civil charges in a perceived discrimination issue.
Local attorney David Hudson confirmed that complaints may be filed should a Muslim baker refuse to bake a cake with the flag of Israel, or if a Jewish baker refuses to bake a cake with the Islamic symbol, a Christian baker refuses to bake a wedding cake with two brides or two grooms or an Atheist baker refuses to bake a cake with the Christian cross.
The ordinance also allows for an employee to complain about unfair treatment at work based on discrimination. Employees can also force their employers into mediation or court.
Once a discrimination complaint is filed a business owner can be forced into a non-binding mediation. If the mediation fails, the case can be taken to Civil and Magistrate Court. Even though the ordinance does not make discrimination a criminal offense, should a business owner lose in court, the fine for a first offense is $500 and then $1,000 for every offense thereafter.
Business owners also face the possible stigma of having their organizations listed in the public record as being discriminatory.
Hudson says the proposed ordinance is duplicative of state and federal laws already on the books and may not even be allowed under federal law.
“This is absolutely unnecessary. Discrimination is already covered by federal law and would preempt any local laws,” Hudson says.
[adrotate banner=”19″]
There is also the issue of enforcement, because the ordinance gives the aggrieved a trial, who would act as the plaintiff’s attorney? The city of Augusta?
“Who is going to provide the manpower,” Hudson asks. “Are they going to hire a cadre of attorneys to go after these people in court?”
District 10 Commissioner John Clarke agrees and states that he doesn’t believe the measure will pass, especially once the public finds out about all of the unintended consequences that could occur if the measure is approved.
“They talk about wanting to form a committee to do these mediations,” Clarke says. “Who are they going to put on the committee? Experts? Business owners? The average person off the street?”
Clarke says he fears that the types of decisions made with a moderating committee could be based on emotion as opposed to actual facts.
“We are opening up an avenue that we really don’t want to go down,” Clarke says. “I just see this as grandstanding on the part of a few commissioners and really nothing else.
The ordinance will be debated by the Administrative Services Committee and then forwarded to the final commission next Tuesday.
Scott Hudson is the Managing Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
[adrotate banner=”43″]
