SENATE BILL NO. 67
INTRODUCED BY MAHLUM D
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT DEFINING "MARITAL STATUS" FOR PURPOSES OF THE STATE
HUMAN RIGHTS LAW; PROVIDING THAT IT IS NOT MARITAL STATUS HUMAN RIGHTS DISCRIMINATION
FOR AN EMPLOYER TO EMPLOY, OR TO OFFER TO EMPLOY, OR ADVERTISE FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF
A PERSON WHO IS QUALIFIED FOR THE POSITION, BASED UPON THE EMPLOYER'S DESIRE TO EMPLOY
OR RETAIN THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE PERSON'S SPOUSE; AND AMENDING SECTIONS 49-2-101 AND
SECTION 49-2-303, MCA."
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Section 49-2-101, MCA, is amended to read:
"49-2-101. Definitions. As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Age" means number of years since birth. It does not mean level of maturity or ability to handle responsibility.
These latter criteria may represent legitimate considerations as reasonable grounds for discrimination without reference to
age.
(2) "Aggrieved party" means a person who can demonstrate a specific personal and legal interest, as distinguished from
a general interest, and who has been or is likely to be specially and injuriously affected by a violation of this chapter.
(3) "Commission" means the commission for human rights provided for in 2-15-1706.
(4) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of labor and industry provided for in 2-15-1701.
(5) "Credit" means the right granted by a creditor to a person to defer payment of a debt, to incur debt and defer its
payment, or to purchase property or services and defer payment. It includes without limitation the right to incur and defer
debt that is secured by residential real property.
(6) "Credit transaction" means any invitation to apply for credit, application for credit, extension of credit, or credit sale.
(7) "Creditor" means a person who, regularly or as a part of the person's business, arranges for the extension of credit
for which the payment of a financial charge or interest is required, whether in connection with loans, sale of property or
services, or otherwise.
(8) "Department" means the department of labor and industry provided for in 2-15-1701.
(9) "Educational institution" means a public or private institution and includes an academy; college; elementary or
secondary school; extension course; kindergarten; nursery; school system; university; business, nursing, professional,
secretarial, technical, or vocational school; or agent of an educational institution.
(10) "Employee" means an individual employed by an employer.
(11) "Employer" means an employer of one or more persons or an agent of the employer but does not include a fraternal,
charitable, or religious association or corporation if the association or corporation is not organized either for private profit
or to provide accommodations or services that are available on a nonmembership basis.
(12) "Employment agency" means a person undertaking to procure employees or opportunities to work.
(13) "Financial institution" means a commercial bank, trust company, savings bank, finance company, savings and loan
association, credit union, investment company, or insurance company.
(14) "Housing accommodation" means a building or portion of a building, whether constructed or to be constructed, that
is or will be used as the sleeping quarters of its occupants.
(15) "Labor organization" means an organization or an agent of an organization organized for the purpose, in whole or
in part, of collective bargaining, of dealing with employers concerning grievances or terms or conditions of employment, or
of other mutual aid and protection of employees.
(16) "Marital status" means the legal status of being married, single, separated, divorced, or widowed and does not refer
to the identity of one's spouse.
(16)(17) "National origin" means ancestry.
(17)(18) (a) "Organization" means a corporation, association, or any other legal or commercial entity that engages in
advocacy of, enforcement of, or compliance with legal interests affected by this chapter.
(b) The term does not include a labor organization.
(18)(19) "Person" means one or more individuals, labor unions, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal
representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated employees' associations, employers,
employment agencies, organizations, or labor organizations.
(19)(20) (a) "Physical or mental disability" means:
(i) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities;
(ii) a record of such an impairment; or
(iii) a condition regarded as such an impairment.
(b) Discrimination based on, because of, on the basis of, or on the grounds of physical or mental disability includes the
failure to make reasonable accommodations that are required by an otherwise qualified person who has a physical or mental
disability. An accommodation that would require an undue hardship or that would endanger the health or safety of any
person is not a reasonable accommodation.
(20)(21) (a) "Public accommodation" means a place that caters or offers its services, goods, or facilities to the general
public subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable to all persons. It includes without
limitation a public inn, restaurant, eating house, hotel, roadhouse, place where food or alcoholic beverages or malt liquors
are sold for consumption, motel, soda fountain, soft drink parlor, tavern, nightclub, trailer park, resort, campground,
barbershop, beauty parlor, bathroom, resthouse, theater, swimming pool, skating rink, golf course, cafe, ice cream parlor,
transportation company, or hospital and all other public amusement and business establishments.
(b) Public accommodation does not include an institution, club, or place of accommodation that proves that it is by its
nature distinctly private. An institution, club, or place of accommodation may not be considered by its nature distinctly
private if it has more than 100 members, provides regular meal service, and regularly receives payment for dues, fees, use
of space, facilities, services, meals, or beverages, directly or indirectly, from or on behalf of nonmembers, for the
furtherance of trade or business. For the purposes of this subsection (20) (21), any lodge of a recognized national fraternal
organization is considered by its nature distinctly private."
Section 1. Section 49-2-303, MCA, is amended to read:
"49-2-303. Discrimination in employment. (1) It is an unlawful discriminatory practice for:
(a) an employer to refuse employment to a person, to bar a person from employment, or to discriminate against a person in compensation or in a term, condition, or privilege of employment because of race, creed, religion, color, or national origin or because of age, physical or mental disability, marital status, or sex when the reasonable demands of the position do not require an age, physical or mental disability, marital status, or sex distinction;
(b) a labor organization or joint labor management committee controlling apprenticeship to exclude or expel any person from its membership or from an apprenticeship or training program or to discriminate in any way against a member of or an applicant to the labor organization or an employer or employee because of race, creed, religion, color, or national origin or because of age, physical or mental disability, marital status, or sex when the reasonable demands of the program do not require an age, physical or mental disability, marital status, or sex distinction;
(c) an employer or employment agency to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated a statement, advertisement, or publication or to use an employment application that expresses, directly or indirectly, a limitation, specification, or discrimination as to sex, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, race, creed, religion, color, or national origin or an intent to make the limitation, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification;
(d) an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, to classify, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual because of sex, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, race, creed, religion, color, or national origin, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification.
(2) The exceptions permitted in subsection (1) based on bona fide occupational qualifications must be strictly construed.
(3) Compliance with 2-2-302 and 2-2-303, which prohibit nepotism in public agencies, may not be construed as a violation of this section.
(4) The application of a hiring preference as provided for in 2-18-111 and 18-1-110 may not be construed to be a violation of this section.
(5) It is not a violation of the prohibition against marital status discrimination in this section:
(a) for an employer or labor organization to provide greater or additional contributions to a bona fide group insurance plan for employees with dependents than to those employees without dependents or with fewer dependents; or
(b) for an employer to employ, or to offer to employ, or advertise for the employment of a person who is qualified for
the position, based upon the employer's desire to employ or retain the employment of the person's spouse."
- END -
Latest Version of SB 67 (SB0067.02)
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Status of this Bill
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