2006 New York Code - Definitions.

 
    § 8-102 Definitions. When used in this chapter:
    1.   The   term   "person"  includes  one  or  more  natural  persons,
  proprietorships,   partnerships,   associations,   group   associations,
  organizations,  governmental  bodies  or  agencies,  corporations, legal
  representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers.
    2. The term "employment agency" includes  any  person  undertaking  to
  procure employees or opportunities to work.
    3.  The  term  "labor  organization"  includes  any organization which
  exists and is constituted for the purpose,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of
  collective   bargaining   or   of   dealing  with  employers  concerning
  grievances, terms and conditions of employment, or of other  mutual  aid
  or protection in connection with employment.
    4.  The  term  "unlawful  discriminatory practice" includes only those
  practices specified in sections 8-107 and 8-107.1 of this chapter.
    5. For purposes of subdivisions one, two, and three of  section  8-107
  of  this chapter, the term "employer" does not include any employer with
  fewer than four persons in his or  her  employ.  For  purposes  of  this
  subdivision,  natural  persons  employed  as  independent contractors to
  carry out work in furtherance of an employer's business  enterprise  who
  are  not  themselves employers shall be counted as persons in the employ
  of such employer.
    6. The term "commission" unless a different  meaning  clearly  appears
  from the text, means the city commission on human rights created by this
  chapter.
    7. The term "national origin" shall, for the purposes of this chapter,
  include "ancestry."
    8.  The term "educational institution" includes kindergartens, primary
  and secondary schools, academies, colleges,  universities,  professional
  schools, extension courses, and all other educational facilities.
    9.  The term "place or provider of public accommodation" shall include
  providers,  whether  licensed  or  unlicensed,   of   goods,   services,
  facilities,  accommodations,  advantages  or privileges of any kind, and
  places,  whether  licensed  or  unlicensed,   where   goods,   services,
  facilities,  accommodations,  advantages  or  privileges of any kind are
  extended, offered, sold, or otherwise made available.  Such  term  shall
  not  include  any  club which proves that it is in its nature distinctly
  private. A club shall not be considered in its nature distinctly private
  if it has more than four hundred members, provides regular meal  service
  and regularly receives payment for dues, fees, use of space, facilities,
  services, meals or beverages directly or indirectly from or on behalf of
  non-members  for  the furtherance of trade or business. For the purposes
  of this section a corporation incorporated under the  benevolent  orders
  law or described in the benevolent orders law but formed under any other
  law  of  this  state,  or a religious corporation incorporated under the
  education law or the religious corporation law shall be deemed to be  in
  its nature distinctly private.
    No  club  which  sponsors  or conducts any amateur athletic contest or
  sparring exhibition and advertises or bills such contest  or  exhibition
  as  a  New  York  state championship contest or uses the words "New York
  state" in its announcements shall be deemed a private exhibition  within
  the meaning of this section.
    10. The term "housing accommodation" includes any building, structure,
  or portion thereof which is used or occupied or is intended, arranged or
  designed  to  be  used  or  occupied, as the home, residence or sleeping
  place of one or more human  beings.  Except  as  otherwise  specifically
  provided,   such   term   shall   include  a  publicly-assisted  housing
  accommodation.
    11. The term "publicly-assisted housing accommodations" shall include:


    (a) Publicly-owned or operated housing accommodations.
    (b)  Housing  accommodations  operated  by housing companies under the
  supervision of the state commissioner of housing and community  renewal,
  or the department of housing preservation and development.
    (c)  Housing  accommodations  constructed  after  July first, nineteen
  hundred  fifty,  and  housing  accommodations  sold  after  July  first,
  nineteen hundred ninety-one:
    (1)  which  are  exempt  in  whole or in part from taxes levied by the
  state or any of its political subdivisions,
    (2) which are constructed on land sold below cost by the state or  any
  of  its  political  subdivisions  or any agency thereof, pursuant to the
  federal housing act of nineteen hundred forty-nine,
    (3) which are constructed in whole or in part on property acquired  or
  assembled  by  the  state  or  any  of its political subdivisions or any
  agency thereof through the power of condemnation or  otherwise  for  the
  purpose of such construction, or
    (4) for the acquisition, construction, repair or maintenance for which
  the  state  or  any  of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof
  supplies funds or other financial assistance.
    (d)   Housing   accommodations,   the    acquisition,    construction,
  rehabilitation,  repair  or  maintenance  of which is, after July first,
  nineteen hundred fifty-five, financed in whole or in  part  by  a  loan,
  whether  or  not  secured  by  a  mortgage,  the  repayment  of which is
  guaranteed or insured by the federal government or any  agency  thereof,
  or the state or any of its political subdivisions or any agency thereof.
    12.  The term "family," as used in subparagraph four of paragraph a of
  subdivision five of section 8-107 of this chapter, means either a person
  occupying a dwelling and maintaining a household,  with  not  more  than
  four  boarders,  roomers  or lodgers, or two or more persons occupying a
  dwelling, living together and maintaining a common household,  with  not
  more  than  four  boarders, roomers or lodgers. A "boarder," "roomer" or
  "lodger" residing with  a  family  means  a  person  living  within  the
  household  who  pays  a  consideration  for  such residence and does not
  occupy such space within the household  as  an  incident  of  employment
  therein.
    13.  The  term  "commercial  space"  means  any  space  in a building,
  structure, or portion thereof which is used or occupied or is  intended,
  arranged  or  designed to be used or occupied for the manufacture, sale,
  resale,  processing,  reprocessing,   displaying,   storing,   handling,
  garaging  or  distribution  of personal property; and any space which is
  used or occupied, or is intended, arranged or designed  to  be  used  or
  occupied  as  a business or professional unit or office in any building,
  structure or portion thereof.
    14. The term "real estate broker" means any person  who,  for  another
  and  for  a  fee,  commission or other valuable consideration, lists for
  sale, sells, at auction or  otherwise,  exchanges,  buys  or  rents,  or
  offers  or  attempts  to  negotiate  a  sale  at  auction, or otherwise,
  exchange, purchase or rental of an estate or interest in real estate  or
  collects  or  offers  or  attempts  to  collect rent for the use of real
  estate, or negotiates, or  offers  or  attempts  to  negotiate,  a  loan
  secured  or  to  be  secured  by a mortgage or other incumbrance upon or
  transfer of real estate. In the sale of lots pursuant to the  provisions
  of  article  nine-a  of  the  real  property  law, the term "real estate
  broker" shall also include any person employed by or on  behalf  of  the
  owner  or  owners  of  lots or other parcels of real estate, at a stated
  salary, or  upon  commission,  or  upon  a  salary  and  commission,  or
  otherwise,  to  sell  such real estate, or any parts thereof, in lots or
  other parcels, and who shall sell or exchange, or offer  or  attempt  or


  agree  to  negotiate  the  sale or exchange of any such lot or parcel of
  real estate.
    15.  The  term "real estate salesperson" means a person employed by or
  authorized by a licensed real estate broker to list for  sale,  sell  or
  offer  for  sale  at  auction  or otherwise to buy or offer to buy or to
  negotiate the purchase  or  sale  or  exchange  of  real  estate  or  to
  negotiate  a  loan on real estate or to lease or rent or offer to lease,
  rent or place for rent any real estate, or who  collects  or  offers  or
  attempts to collect rents for the use of real estate for or on behalf of
  such real estate broker.
    16.  (a)  The term "disability" means any physical, medical, mental or
  psychological impairment, or a history or record of such impairment.
    (b) The term "physical, medical, mental, or psychological  impairment"
  means:
    (1)  an  impairment  of  any  system  of  the body; including, but not
  limited to: the neurological system;  the  musculoskeletal  system;  the
  special  sense organs and respiratory organs, including, but not limited
  to, speech organs; the cardivascular system;  the  reproductive  system;
  the  digestive  and  genito-urinary  systems;  the  hemic  and lymphatic
  systems; the immunological systems; the skin; and the endocrine  system;
  or
    (2) a mental or psychological impairment.
    (c)  In  the  case  of  alcoholism,  drug addiction or other substance
  abuse, the term "disability" shall only apply to a  person  who  (1)  is
  recovering or has recovered and (2) currently is free of such abuse, and
  shall not include an individual who is currently engaging in the illegal
  use of drugs, when the covered entity acts on the basis of such use.
    17.  The  term "covered entity" means a person required to comply with
  any provision of section 8-107 of this chapter.
    18. The term "reasonable accommodation" means such accommodation  that
  can  be  made  that shall not cause undue hardship in the conduct of the
  covered entity's business. The covered entity shall have the  burden  of
  proving undue hardship. In making a determination of undue hardship with
  respect  to  claims filed under subdivisions one or two of section 8-107
  or section 8-107.1 of this chapter, the factors which may be  considered
  include but shall not be limited to:
    (a) the nature and cost of the accommodation;
    (b)  the overall financial resources of the facility or the facilities
  involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodation; the number of
  persons employed at such facility; the effect on expenses and resources,
  or the impact otherwise of such accommodation upon the operation of  the
  facility;
    (c) the overall financial resources of the covered entity; the overall
  size  of  the business of a covered entity with respect to the number of
  its employees, the number, type, and location of its facilities; and
    (d) the type  of  operation  or  operations  of  the  covered  entity,
  including  the composition, structure, and functions of the workforce of
  such entity; the  geographic  separateness,  administrative,  or  fiscal
  relationship  of  the  facility or facilities in question to the covered
  entity.
    19. The term "occupation" means any lawful vocation, trade, profession
  or field of specialization.
    20.   The   term   "sexual   orientation"    means    heterosexuality,
  homosexuality, or bisexuality.
    21. The term "alienage or citizenship status" means:
    (a) the citizenship of any person, or
    (b)  the  immigration  status  of  any  person who is not a citizen or
  national of the United States.


    22. The term "hate crime" means a crime  that  manifests  evidence  of
  prejudice   based  on  race,  religion,  ethnicity,  disability,  sexual
  orientation, national origin, age, gender, or  alienage  or  citizenship
  status.
    23.  The term "gender" shall include actual or perceived sex and shall
  also  include  a  person's  gender  identity,  self-image,   appearance,
  behavior or expression, whether or not that gender identity, self-image,
  appearance,  behavior or expression is different from that traditionally
  associated with the legal sex assigned to that person at birth.
    24. The term "partnership status" means  the  status  of  being  in  a
  domestic  partnership,  as  defined  by § 3-240(a) of the administrative
  code of the city of New York.