What are Reasonable Occupancy Standards for Housing in Iowa?

Occupancy Standards
Landlords may set reasonable occupancy standards for housing units, but landlords may not set standards stricter than the local housing code. If a locality does not have an occupancy code, the current guideline of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is two persons per average-sized bedroom, taking into consideration the size and configuration of the unit as a whole. Landlords may limit a one-room efficiency apartment to one person. The occupancy standard is based on a "person," not on whether the person is an adult or a child or male, female, or transgender.

Mobile home parks may not set a limit of a certain persons per lot. The occupancy standard should be based on the number and size of the bedrooms in the mobile home. An exception could be made if the mobile home park can show that their service systems, such as water and sewer, cannot accommodate more resident.

How Can Harassment Affect Employers?

The Costs of Harassment

Harassment is expensive. A harassing atmosphere at work will cause low employee morale and high turnover. Low morale usually translates to low production or poor quality work. Many times a victim of harassment will simply quit and leave a job rather than have a confrontation about it. This costs money for the employer to hire and train new workers.

There are costs involved if a harassment complaint is filed internally with the employer, i.e., staff time needed to investigate and resolve the complaint. If a complaint is filed with an enforcement agency, there will be additional costs for staff time and legal counsel to respond to the complaint.

If there is an adverse decision from the enforcement agency or a court, the employer may have to pay damages for lost pay or emotional distress. If a charge of harassment becomes public knowledge, a business could suffer a loss of customers and public good will.

Employer Liability

When a termination has been made that harassment did occur in the workplace, the follow liability standards apply:

• Harassment by a supervisor or manager involving a "tangible job action": the employer is always liable. A "tangible job action" includes such things as hiring, firing, failure to promote, loss or raise, etc.
• Harassment by a supervisor or manager involving hostile environment: employer is liable unless the employer proves that they exercised reasonable care to prevent and remedy any harassing behavior, and that the complainant filed to take advantage of preventive or corrective measures or otherwise avoid harm.
• Harassment by a supervisor or manager: the harasser may be individually liable, as well as the employer.
• Harassment by a co-worker, non-employee or other outside person: the employer is liable if the employer knew or should have known about the harassment and did not take prompt remedial action.
• Co-workers may also be individually liable for damages caused by harassment.

Owners, managers and supervisors need to be aware of the provisions of the laws prohibiting harassment in order to handle problems if and when they occur.

What is the Definition of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Guidelines define sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when:

• submission to such conduct is made an implicit or explicit condition of an individual's employment;
• submission to or rejection of such conduct affects employment opportunities; or
• such conduct interferes with an employee's work or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

The key phrases in the EEOC definition of sexual harassment are "unwelcome" and "of a sexual nature." The behavior must be unsolicited and unwelcomed by the victim. The phrase "of a sexual nature" means that sex or gender must be the underlying nature of the behavior. Men and women may have disputes or disagreements on the job, but this would not be viewed as harassment unless there is a sexual element to the interaction.

This definition does not prohibit the usual social interaction, which sometimes is of a sexual nature, among people who work together. People can get acquainted, joke together, or ask for a date as long as that is welcomed by the parties involved. Welcome behavior or consensual contacts of a sexual nature are not harassment.

There are two types of harassment: that which results in a tangible employment action and that which creates an unlawful hostile environment but does not result in a tangible employment action. An employer is always liable for a supervisor's harassment if it results in a tangible employment action. If it does not involve a tangible employment action, however, the employer may be able to avoid liability or limit damages by establishing that it exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any harassing behavior and that the employee unreasonably failed to utilize the preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

Harassment involves a tangible employment action if it results in a significant change in employment status based on the employee's responses to unwelcome sexual demands. Examples of tangible employment actions include hiring and firing, promotion and failure to promote, demotion, compensation decisions and work assignments.

The employer is liable for supervisor harassment because supervisors are aided in their misconduct by the authority that the employers have delegated to them, such as the authority to undertake or recommend tangible employment decisions, or to direct the employee's daily work activities.

With respect to conduct between co-workers, an employer is responsible for acts of sexual harassment in the workplace where the employer knew or should have known of the conduct, unless it can show that it took immediate and appropriate corrective action.

What is Workplace Harassment and Are There Laws that Prohibit It?

What is Harassment?

Harassment is behavior which has the effect of humiliating, intimidating, or coercing someone through personal attack. It is behavior that will make someone uncomfortable or embarrassed, and cause emotional distress. It frequently occurs when one person wants to exert power or control over another person.

Harassment may be intentional with a person targeted personally, or it may be unintentional. What matters is how the person receiving the behavior perceives it to be.

While harassment because of sex gets the most attention, harassment because of other protected characteristics such as race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, or physical and mental disability is also prohibited under state and federal laws. Harassment because of marital status or appearance may also be illegal, depending on jurisdiction; it is always disrespectful and inappropriate workplace behavior.

The Laws that Prohibit Harassment

Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in the workplace because of race, color, sex, religion, and national origin. Other federal laws prohibit discrimination because of age or disability. Harassment is a form of discrimination covered under these laws.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidelines on sexual harassment in behavior and which set forth the standards followed by enforcement agencies and the courts in handling charges of sexual harassment. The definition's framework can also be applied to harassment for other reasons.

The Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965, Iowa Code Chapter 216, also prohibits employment discrimination because of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national origin, age, color, or disability. Harassment is considered to be a form of prohibited discrimination. The state goes beyond Title VII by also prohibiting discrimination in the areas of housing, public accommodations, credit, and education.

In addition, many cities have human rights / civil rights ordinances that prohibit discrimination in the workplace.

Fair Housing Laws

What Laws Protect You From Housing Discrimination?

Local: Many cities have local civil/human rights agencies prohibiting housing discrimination. Contact your local city hall for information.

State: The "Iowa Civil Rights Act" (Iowa Code 216) prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, mental disability, physical disability, and familial status (presence of children in the home).

Federal: The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibits discrimination in housing because of race or color. The Civil Rights Act of 1968, Title VII, and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1989 prohibit discrimination in housing because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, and familial status.

Familial status, or presence of children in the home, protects families with children under 18 years of age. Also protected are families seeking custody of a child or expecting the birth of a child. There is only a narrow exception to this part of the law: units designated as "housing for older persons."

Property owners are required by law to allow reasonable modifications to a property (at the tenant's expense) and to make reasonable accommodations in policies in order to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities.

Service Animals in Housing and Public Places

Are There Guidelines about Service Animals in Housing and Public Places in Iowa?

Federal, state, and some local laws require that housing providers and places normally open to the public must allow trained service animals to accompany people with disabilities onto the premise. This includes businesses, agencies, government offices, health clinics, and covered dwellings.

A service animal is any animal that has been trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability. Under the law, a service animal is not considered a pet. Dogs are the most common service animals, but other species (miniature horses, monkeys, birds, cats, etc.) also can be service animals. Service animals can perform many types of tasks for someone with a disability.

Guide dogs are used by people who are blind or visually impaired. Other service animals are trained to alert a deaf person to sounds, to alert an individual with seizure disorder to an oncoming seizure, to carry and pick up things for someone who uses a wheelchair, or to help with balance, with example.

There are no legal requirements for service animals to be specifically identified. Some (but not all) service animals wear special vests and harnesses. Some (but not all) are licensed or "certified" and/or have identification papers.

"No pets" policies do not apply to service animals. You must make an exception for them.

Responsibilities:

• Businesses cannot require a person with a disability to show proof of a disability or certification of a service animal's status. They may ask a person with an animal if it is a service animals required because of a disability, if they are not certain that an animal is a service animal. Housing providers may request verification if the disability or need for the service animals is not obvious or otherwise known.
• Businesses and housing providers cannot restrict the areas where a service animal may go. A service animal must be allowed to accompany a person with a disability everywhere that people may normally go, unless the animal's presence creates a basic change to your business operation or threat to safety.
• Businesses and housing providers cannot restrict access to service animals because of health regulations. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) takes priority over local and state laws or regulations. The only exception is a hospital operation room; however, patient rooms are not restricted.
• Businesses may exclude a service animal from the premises when its behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others. Businesses do not have to accommodate a service animal when doing so would result in a fundamental alteration to the nature of the business.