Oregon Statutes 659A.003 – Purpose of ORS chapter 659A
The purpose of this chapter is to encourage the fullest utilization of the available workforce by removing arbitrary standards of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age or disability as a barrier to employment of the inhabitants of this state, and to ensure the human dignity of all people within this state and protect their health, safety and morals from the consequences of intergroup hostility, tensions and practices of unlawful discrimination of any kind based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age, disability or familial status. To accomplish this purpose, the Legislative Assembly intends by this chapter to provide:
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 659A.003
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Gender identity: means an individual's gender-related identity, appearance, expression or behavior, regardless of whether the identity, appearance, expression or behavior differs from that associated with the gender assigned to the individual at birth. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
- National origin: includes ancestry. See Oregon Statutes 659A.001
- Race: includes physical characteristics that are historically associated with race, including but not limited to natural hair, hair texture, hair type and protective hairstyles. See Oregon Statutes 659A.001
- Sexual orientation: means an individual's actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
(1) A program of public education calculated to eliminate attitudes upon which practices of unlawful discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age, disability or familial status are based.
(2) An adequate remedy for persons aggrieved by certain acts of unlawful discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, disability or familial status, or unreasonable acts of discrimination in employment based upon age.
(3) An adequate administrative machinery for the orderly resolution of complaints of unlawful discrimination through a procedure involving investigation, conference, conciliation and persuasion, to encourage the use in good faith of the machinery by all parties to a complaint of unlawful discrimination and to discourage unilateral action that makes moot the outcome of final administrative or judicial determination on the merits of the complaint. [Formerly 659.022; 2005 c.22 § 467; 2007 c.100 § 2; 2007 c.903 § 1a; 2021 c.367 § 33]