Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 5 > Chapter 17 > Subchapter I - General Provisions

• Age: as used in this subchapter means the age of 40 or more years of age. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means a mutual benefit association as defined in this section. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 5502
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney: as used in this chapter , refers to the attorney-in-fact of a reciprocal insurer. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 5705
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Charging party: means any individual or the Department who initiates proceedings by the filing of a verified charge of discrimination, and who preserves a cause of action in Superior Court by exhausting the administrative remedies pursuant to the provisions of § 714 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Competitive employment: means work in the competitive labor market that is performed on a full-time or part-time basis in an integrated setting and for which a person with a disability is compensated at or above the minimum wage, but not less than the customary wage and level of benefits paid by the employer for the same or similar work performed by persons without disabilities. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 742
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Credit Score: A number, roughly between 300 and 800, that measures an individual's credit worthiness. The most well-known type of credit score is the FICO score. This score represents the answer from a mathematical formula that assigns numerical values to various pieces of information in your credit report. ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Disability: means any condition or characteristic that renders a person a person with a disability as defined in this section. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 722
• Disability: means , with respect to an individual:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 742

• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Domestic violence: means the same as defined in § 1041 of Title 10, verified by an official document, such as a court order, or by a reliable third-party professional, including a law-enforcement agency or officer, a domestic violence or domestic abuse service provider, or health-care provider. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• employee: means any police officer or firefighter employed by a public employer except those determined by the Board to be inappropriate for inclusion in the bargaining unit; provided, however, that for the purposes of this chapter with respect to any state employee covered under the State Merit System, position classification, health care and other benefit programs established pursuant to Chapters 52 and 96 of Title 29, workers' compensation, disability programs and pension programs shall not be deemed to be compensation. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 1602
• Employee: means an individual employed by an employer, but does not include:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710

• Employee: means any person currently employed, laid off with reemployment rights or on leave of absence. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 731
• Employer: means any person employing 4 or more employees within the State at the time of the alleged violation, including the State or any political subdivision or board, department, commission or school district thereof. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Employer: means a person qualifying as an employer under § 710 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 722
• Employer: shall mean any individual, person, partnership, association, corporation, the State, any of its political subdivisions or any agency, authority, board or commission created by them. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 731
• employer: includes the Town of Delmar, Delaware. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 1602
• Employment agency: means any person regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer and includes an agent of such a person. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• equity security: when used in this chapter means any stock or similar security or any security convertible, with or without consideration, into such a security or carrying any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase such a security, or any such warrant or right, or any other security which the Commissioner deems to be of similar nature and considers necessary or appropriate, by such rules and regulations as the Commissioner may prescribe in the public interest or for the protection of investors, to treat as an equity security. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 5102
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• Family responsibilities: means the obligations of an employee to care for any family member who would qualify as a covered family member under the Family and Medical Leave Act [26 U. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Gender identity: means a gender-related identity, appearance, expression or behavior of a person, regardless of the person's assigned sex at birth. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Integrated setting: means with respect to an employment outcome, a setting typically found in the community in which persons with disabilities interact with persons without disabilities, other than persons without disabilities who are providing services to those persons with disabilities, to the same extent that persons without disabilities in comparable positions interact with other persons. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 742
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Labor organization: includes any organization of any kind, any agency or employee representation committee, group, association or plan so engaged in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours or other terms or conditions of employment, any conference, general committee, joint or system board or joint council so engaged which is subordinate to a national or international labor organization. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Major life activities: includes caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 722
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mutual benefit association: means a corporation, society, order or association which has no capital stock, which issues certificates of membership providing for payment of benefits in case of sickness, disability or death of its members and which accumulates funds by the collection of fees or dues from its members, at either stated or irregular intervals, with which to discharge its liabilities on its membership certificates and with which to pay the administrative expenses, but fraternal benefit societies as defined in Chapter 62 of this title shall not be deemed to be mutual benefit associations. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 5502
• No cause determination: means that the Department has completed its investigation and found that there is no reasonable cause to believe that an unlawful employment practice has occurred or is occurring. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes 1 or more individuals, labor unions, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy or receivers. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Person with a disability: means any person who satisfies any 1 of the following:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 722

• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personnel file: means , if maintained by the employer, any application for employment, wage or salary information, notices of commendations, warning or discipline, authorization for a deduction or withholding of pay, fringe benefit information, leave records, employment history with the employer, including salary information, job title, dates of changes, retirement record, attendance records, performance evaluations and medical records. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 731
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Pregnancy: means pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition, including, but not limited to, lactation. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Protective hairstyle: includes braids, locks, and twists. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Public employer: means the State of Delaware, its agencies, or political subdivisions. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Qualified person with a disability: means a person with a disability who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can satisfactorily perform the essential functions of the job in question:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 722

• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Race: includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and a protective hairstyle. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reasonable accommodation: has the meaning given this term in § 722 of this title, except that all references to disability shall instead be references to known limitations of a person related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Reasonable accommodation: means making reasonable changes in the work place, including, but not limited to, making facilities accessible, modifying equipment and providing mechanical aids to assist in operating equipment, or making reasonable changes in the schedules or duties of the job in question that would accommodate the known disability of a person with a disability by enabling such person to satisfactorily perform the essential duties of the job in question; provided that "reasonable accommodation" unless otherwise prescribed by applicable law, does not require that an employer:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 722

• Reasonable cause determination: means that the Department has completed its investigation and found reasonable cause to believe that an unlawful employment practice has occurred or is occurring. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Religion: as used in this subchapter includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that the employer is unable to reasonably accommodate an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Reproductive health decision: means any decision related to the use or intended use of a particular drug, device, or medical service, including the use or intended use of contraception or fertility control or the planned or intended initiation or termination of a pregnancy. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Respondent: means any person named in the Charge of Discrimination, including but not limited to employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, joint labor-management committees, controlling apprenticeship or other training programs including on-the-job training programs. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department of Labor or the Secretary's designee. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sexual offense: means the same as defined in § 761 of Title 11, verified by an official document, such as a court order, or by a reliable third-party professional, including a law-enforcement agency or officer, a domestic violence or domestic abuse service provider, or health-care provider. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Sexual orientation: includes heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• Stalking: means the same as in § 1312 of Title 11, verified by an official document, such as a court order, or by a reliable third-party professional, including a law-enforcement agency or officer, a sexual assault service provider, or health-care provider. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Substantially limits: means that the impairment so affects a person as to create a likelihood that such person will experience difficulty in securing, retaining or advancing in employment because of a disability. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 722
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Undue hardship: means an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as: the nature and cost of the accommodation; the overall financial resources of the employer; the overall size of the business of the employer with respect to the number of employees, and the number, type and location of its facilities; and the effect on expenses and resources or the impact otherwise of such accommodation upon the operation of the employer. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 710
• United States: includes its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Working age: means 14 years of age or older in accordance with § 505 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 19 Sec. 742
• Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302