Discrimination in employment: drug rehabilitation programs.

Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, it is unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory employment practices, including hiring, promotion, and termination based on certain protected characteristics, including race, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations. The act also prohibits housing discrimination based on specified personal characteristics, including physical or mental disability. The act also prohibits discrimination because of a perception that a person has one of those protected characteristics or is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of those characteristics. Existing law defines terms such as race, religious beliefs, physical disability, and mental disability among others, for purposes of the act. This bill would revise the definitions of "physical disability" and "mental disability" to include a person who has completed, or is in the process of completing, a rehabilitation program to end illegal drug use, or who is erroneously regarded to be engaging in illegal drug use.