County executive seeks to amend civil rights laws

King County Executive Ron Sims yesterday sent a package of legislative amendments to the County Council that would expand local nondiscrimination laws to the smallest employers in unincorporated areas.

Sims' proposal would forbid discrimination by employers with as few as one employee. County code currently protects employees and potential employees of the county, county contractors and private employers with eight or more employees.

County Council members Dow Constantine, Bob Ferguson and Larry Gossett, all Seattle Democrats, signed on as sponsors of the amendments, which for the first time would ban discrimination on the basis of gender orientation — protecting "transgender individuals" or people who have a gender identification that may differ from their biological gender.

"I am particularly glad that we are finally opening our courts to sexual minorities who are discriminated against," Constantine said. "Our system of justice and our community will be the stronger for it." Existing law prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations on the basis of race, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Sims' proposal also would:

• Allow individuals to file claims of employment or public-accommodations discrimination in King County Superior Court instead of the county Office of Civil Rights;

• Prohibit discrimination in county services and facilities, such as Metro buses, even outside unincorporated parts of the county; and

• Define age 40 as the lower limit of protection of workers from age discrimination in employment.

The last change, which would make county code consistent with federal and state law, would remove protection of younger workers from age discrimination. But Bailey deIong, manager of the county Office of Civil Rights, said few younger people would be affected by the change because they rarely file age-discrimination complaints.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com