Employment: discrimination enforcement: local government.

(1) The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits discrimination in housing and employment on specified bases and provides procedures for enforcement by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, including authorizing the department to accept complaints alleging violations of FEHA. Under FEHA, it is the intention of the Legislature that FEHA occupy the field of regulation of discrimination in employment, but that FEHA not limit or restrict the application of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. The Unruh Civil Rights Act generally prohibits business establishments from discriminating on specified bases. This bill, among other things, would revise that preemption and authorize the legislative body of a local government, located within the County of Los Angeles, to enact a local antidiscrimination ordinance relating to employment, including establishing remedies and penalties for violations. The bill would authorize a local government to create a local agency to enforce local antidiscrimination laws (local enforcement agency) . The bill would additionally authorize a local government to designate a local enforcement agency to act as a fair employment practice agency (FEPA) if that local enforcement agency agrees to accept all charges of employment discrimination that would be accepted by the federal government, subject to requirements described below. The bill would authorize a local enforcement agency to perform certain administrative, investigative, and enforcement actions, including the award of the full scope of remedies available under FEHA and any remedies available under the local antidiscrimination ordinance. The bill would require that the local agency establish a specified internet website and publish an annual report relating to complaints accepted. The bill would authorize a party to seek judicial review of an agency's binding determination under these provisions. This bill would deem a complaint filed with the local agency to also be a complaint under FEHA, except as specified. The bill would require the department to coordinate with a local enforcement agency to establish a specified filing relationship that allows the agency to accept complaints under FEHA. The bill would authorize an individual to file a complaint with both a local enforcement agency and the department, but would provide that initially filing a complaint with the department extinguishes a complainant's right to file a complaint based on the same allegations with a local enforcement agency under a local antidiscrimination ordinance. The bill would require the department to notify a complainant of their right to dual file and of that extinguishment. (2) The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) works with various states' fair employment practice agencies to manage charges of discrimination under federal, state, and local laws. This bill would require a local enforcement agency that has been designated as a FEPA to enter into a work sharing agreement with the EEOC, as specified, to provide for dual filing at the federal and local level. The bill would require a local enforcement agency that is not designated as a FEPA to help facilitate the filing of a complaint at the federal level. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.