Advocacy and Public Education
Education. In Fiscal Year
1988, there were 77 workshops on civil rights law, racial sensitivity and
tolerant behavior that were sponsored and conducted by ICRC staff around
the state.
The ICRC also published three
issues of its newsletter, the Communicator,
containing articles on civil rights and discrimination issues. Besides workshops
and newsletters, the ICRC also handled almost 700 employer/landlord calls--questions
and requests for information. Publications were sent to 252 employers and
landlords in response to these calls.
"An Open Letter to all
Iowans" and the "Action Plan to Eliminate Racial Prejudice."
In March 1987 the Commission
adopted these documents in response to the growing number of bias-motivated
hate/violence incidents. The "Open Letter" defines the problem
of racial prejudice in Iowa and asks all Iowans to commit themselves to
its elimination. The "Action Plan" details specific ways that
Iowans can help.
These steps include the voluntary
removal from store inventories of merchandise which could reasonably be
identified as being racially offensive to some individuals. Another step
is the establishment of Regional Councils on the Elimination of Racial Prejudice,
comprised of volunteers who are committed to eliminating prejudice in their
respective communities. There are to be three councils, serving the western,
central and eastern areas of the state.
By the end of Fiscal Year 1988, these councils had been formed and each
group was being trained to tackle the problem of prejudice on a local level,
and to monitor incidents which could result in discrimination in their communities.
The Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 (Changed Sections)
The following addition to the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 was approved
by the Seventy-Second General Assembly on June 5, 1987, and became effective
July 1, 1987.
Section 601A.6
2. Employment policies relating to pregnancy and childbirth shall be governed
by the following:
a. A written or unwritten employment policy or practice which excludes from
employment applicants or employees because of the employee's pregnancy is
a prima facie violation of this chapter.
b. Disabilities caused or contributed to by the employee's pregnancy, miscarriage,
childbirth, and recovery therefrom are, for all job-related purposes, temporary
disabilities and shall be treated as such under any health or temporary
disability insurance or sick leave plan available in connection with employment.
Written and unwritten employment policies and practices involving matters
such as the commencement and duration of leave, the availability of extensions,
the accrual of seniority and other benefits and privileges, reinstatement,
and payment under any health or temporary disability insurance or sick leave
plan, formal or informal, shall be applied to a disability due to the employee's
pregnancy or giving birth, on the same terms and conditions as they are
applied to other temporary disabilities.
c. Disabilities caused or contributed to by legal abortion and recovery
therefrom are, for all job-related purposes, temporary disabilities and
shall be treated as such under any temporary disability or sick leave plan
available in connection with employment. Written and unwritten employment
policies and practices involving matters such as the commencement and duration
of leave, the availability of extensions, the accrual of seniority and other
benefits and privileges, reinstatement,
and payment under any temporary disability insurance or sick leave plan,
formal or informal, shall be applied to a disability due to legal abortion
on the same terms and conditions as they are applied to other temporary
disabilities. The employer may elect to exclude health insurance coverage
for abortion from a plan provided by the employer, except where the life
of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or where
medical complications have arisen from an abortion.
d. An employer shall not terminate
the employment of a person disabled by pregnancy because of the employee's
pregnancy.
e. Where a leave is not available or a sufficient leave is not available
under any health or temporary disability insurance or sick leave plan available
in connection with employment, the employer of the pregnant employee shall
not refuse to grant to the employee who is disabled by the pregnancy a leave
of absence if the leave of absence is for the period that the employee is
disabled because of the employee's pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical
conditions, or for eight weeks, whichever is less. However, the employee
must provide timely notice of the period of leave requested and the employer
must approve any change in the period requested before the change is effective.
Before granting the leave of absence, the employer may require that the
employee's disability resulting from pregnancy be verified by medical certification
stating that the employee is not able to reasonably perform the duties of
employment
(New subsection 2 and former subsections 2-5 renumbered
3-6.)