1. (a) It shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to observe the conditions of a bona fide seniority system or a bona fide employee benefit system such as retirement, pension or insurance plan which is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of this chapter, except that no such employee seniority system or benefit plan shall excuse the failure to hire any individual.
2. (b) It shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice for the District of Columbia to prescribe minimum and maximum age limits for appointment to the police officer and firefighter cadet programs.

3. (c)

   1. (1) It shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to use sex as a bona fide occupational qualification when an employer seeks to employ an employee to perform services in a private residence, if:

      1. (A) The employer has a factual basis for believing that hiring an individual of a particular sex would undermine the privacy interests of the individual receiving services in the private residence;
      2. (B) The individual receiving services has a privacy interest entitled to protection under the law; and
      3. (C) No reasonable alternative exists to protect the individual's privacy interest.

   2. (2) Paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not apply to employment decisions based on:

      1. (A) The stereotyped characterization of one group as opposed to another;
      2. (B) Actual or perceived sexual orientation of a prospective employee; or
      3. (C) The prospective employee's preferred name or personal pronouns.
   3. (3) This subsection shall be construed in a manner consistent with the regulations and jurisprudence interpreting sex as a bona fide occupational qualification under section 703(e) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, approved July 2, 1964 (78 Stat. 256; 42 U.S. Code § 2000e-2(e)).

History

Dec. 13, 1977, D.C. Law 2-38, title II, § 212, 24 DCR 6038

Mar. 9, 1983, D.C. Law 4-172, § 4(a), 29 DCR 5745

Mar. 10, 2023, D.C. Law 24-305, § 201(c)

Prior Codifications

1973 Ed., § 6-2222.

1981 Ed., § 1-2513.

Emergency Legislation

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 703 of Coronavirus Support Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 (D.C. Act 23-326, May 27, 2020, 67 DCR 7045).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 703 of Coronavirus Support Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 (D.C. Act 23-328, June 8, 2020, 67 DCR 7598).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 703 of Coronavirus Support Second Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 (D.C. Act 23-405, Aug. 19, 2020, 67 DCR 10235).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 703 of Coronavirus Support Emergency Amendment Act of 2021 (D.C. Act 24-30, Mar. 17, 2021, 68 DCR 003101).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 703 of Coronavirus Support Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2021 (D.C. Act 24-96, June 7, 2021, 68 DCR 006025).

Temporary Legislation

For temporary (225 days) amendment of this section, see § 703 of Coronavirus Support Temporary Amendment Act of 2020 (D.C. Law 23-130, Oct. 9, 2020, 67 DCR 8622).

For temporary (225 days) amendment of this section, see § 703 of Coronavirus Support Temporary Amendment Act of 2021 (D.C. Law 24-9, June 24, 2021, 68 DCR 004824).

Applicability

Applicability of D.C. Law 24-305: § 401 of D.C. Law 24-305 provided that the change made to this section by § 201(c) of D.C. Law 24-305 is subject to the inclusion of the law’s fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan. Therefore that amendment has not been implemented.

Section 7090(a) of D.C. Law 25-50 amended section 401 of D.C. Law 24-305 changing the applicability provision impacting this section to October 1, 2023. Therefore the amendment to this section by Law 24-305 has been implemented.