§ 2-131. Powers and Duties of Commission.

The Commission is empowered to and shall do the following:

(a)

Establish and maintain a permanent office in the City of South Bend.

(b)

Recommend to the Mayor for appointment an executive director, or such personnel as it may deem necessary, and to prescribe their duties.

(c)

Adopt, promulgate, amend and rescind such rules and regulations, procedural and substantive, as may be consistent with the provisions of this article and state laws. Such rules and regulations shall be adopted in accordance with the provisions of this article as it may hereafter be amended.

(d)

Formulate policies to effectuate the purposes of this article and make recommendations to the City to effectuate such policies. The several departments, commissions, boards, authorities, divisions, bureaus and officers of the City may furnish the Commission, upon its request, all records, papers, and information in their possession relating to any matter before the Commission.

(e)

Receive and investigate charges of discriminatory practices. The Commission shall not hold hearings in the absence of a charge as herein defined. All investigations of charges shall be conducted by staff members of the Commission.

(f)

Issue such publications and such results of investigations and research as in its judgment will tend to minimize or eliminate discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation or gender identity, or familial status in the case of housing.

(g)

Prepare and issue a report annually to the Common Council and Mayor, describing in detail the investigation and conciliation proceedings it has conducted and their outcome, the progress made and any other work performed and achievements towards the elimination of discrimination.

(h)

Prevent any person from discharging, expelling or otherwise discriminating against any other person because he filed a charge or has testified in any hearing before this Commission, or has in any way assisted the Commission in any matter under investigation.

(i)

Appoint hearing officers, hold hearings, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, administer oaths, take the testimony of any such person under oath, and require the production for examination of any books and papers relating to any matter under investigation or in question before the Commission. The Commission shall have the exclusive power to subpoena, but it shall consult with the Department of Law concerning the issuance of a subpoena. The Department of Law may veto the issuance of a subpoena if and only if such an issuance would be an abuse of the Commission's subpoena power. Abuse of the Commission's subpoena power shall include but not be limited to use of such subpoena power for harassment purposes, issuance of a subpoena for information clearly irrelevant to the investigation being conducted, and issuance of a subpoena for information over an excessively broad span of time. Contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued pursuant to this section shall constitute a contempt. All hearings shall be held within the City of South Bend at a location determined by the Commission. A citation of contempt may be issued upon application by the Commission to the circuit or superior court, or judge thereof, in the County in which the hearing is held or in which the witness resides or transacts business.

(1)

The Commission shall state its finding of fact after a hearing, and, if the Commission finds a person has engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice, it may cause to be served on such person an order requiring such person to cease and desist from the unlawful discriminatory practice and requiring such person to take further affirmative action as will effectuate the purposes of this article, including but not limited to the power to restore charging party's losses incurred as a result of discriminatory treatment, as the Commission may deem necessary to assure justice. The Commission may require the posting of notice setting forth the public policy of Indiana concerning civil rights and the respondent's compliance with said policy in places of public accommodations; and it may require proof of compliance to be filed by the respondent at periodic intervals.

(A)

Except in housing cases which are separately treated in sub-part (C) of this section, the Commission may impose a penalty upon any respondent of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) for the first and second violation of this article within a five-year period, and may further impose a penalty of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) for three (3) or more violations of this article within a five-year period.

(B)

When applied to discrimination in employment, the Commission shall also have power, to the extent consistent with state law , to restore charging party's losses by awarding damages including wages, salary, commissions, fringe benefits in an amount not to exceed that lost over a two-year period. For discrimination in employment and housing, the Commission shall also have the power, to the extent consistent with state law, to award damages which will compensate charging party for future pecuniary loss, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, anguish, loss of enjoyment of life and other non-pecuniary losses, costs and attorney fees.

(C)

To vindicate the public interest in cases of housing discrimination, the Commission may assess a civil penalty of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) for each commission of a discriminatory housing practice.

(D)

The Commission may sue to recover a civil penalty due under this section. [P.L. 66-1990, § 2.]

(2)

Judicial review of any decision of the Commission as referred to in this article may be obtained under IC 4-21.5-1 in the same manner as if the decision was that of a State agency. However, only in those cases involving discriminatory housing practices as prohibited by this Chapter, a complainant, a respondent, or an aggrieved person on whose behalf the complaint was filed may elect to have decided in a civil action those claims asserted in a finding of probable cause. Such election must be made not later than twenty (20) days after the date of receipt by the electing person of service under this chapter, and such person shall give written notice to the Commission and all other complainants and respondents to whom the finding of probable cause relates. Such civil action shall be filed in the circuit or superior court of St. Joseph County or any other court of proper jurisdiction, and if the court finds that a discriminatory housing practice has occurred or is about to occur, the court may grant any relief appropriate in a civil action under this Article or IC 22-9.5-8.1-2 or as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, or the federal Fair Housing Act.

(3)

In those cases involving discriminatory housing practices as prohibited by this Act where final adjudicative Commission action is in favor of the charging party, the charging party shall be permitted to have damages determined in the circuit of superior court of St. Joseph County or any other court of proper jurisdiction having the power to award punitive damages as allowed by the Fair Housing Act. Charging parties shall make such a request to the Commission in writing within five (5) days from the notice of final Commission action, which notice shall advise charging party of this right to damage determination, and the Commission shall represent charging party at the Commission's expense in such court action for damages. The Commission shall seek such a judicial determination of damages within one (1) year of the alleged discriminatory housing practice. If it is impracticable for the Commission to seek such a determination within one (1) year of the alleged discriminatory act, it shall notify charging party and respondent in writing of its reasons for not doing so, and shall undertake such judicial determination as soon as practicable.

(j)

Reduce the terms of conciliation agreed to by the parties to a writing to be called a "consent agreement" which the parties and a majority of the Commissioners shall sign and when so signed the consent agreement shall have the same effect as a final decision of the Commission. If the Commission determines that a party to a consent agreement is not complying with the agreement, the Commission may obtain enforcement of the consent agreement in a circuit or superior court upon showing that the party is subject to the Commission's jurisdiction.

(k)

Institute actions in the St. Joseph Superior or Circuit Court for appropriate or equitable relief.

(l)

Transfer cases to the Indiana Civil Rights Commission or to an appropriate federal agency and to receive cases transferred from the Indiana Civil Rights Commission or from an appropriate federal agency. The South Bend Human Rights Commission shall proceed to act on any case transferred to it from the Indiana Civil Rights Commission as if the case had been originally filed with the South Bend Human Rights Commission as of the date the charge was filed with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission.

(Ord. No. 5619-73, § 1; Ord. No. 6003-76; Ord. No. 6635-79, § 1; Ord. No. 8277-92, § 8, 7-13-92; Ord. No. 8410-93, § 1; Ord. No. 8699-96, § I, 7-22-96; Ord. No. 10154-12, § VII, 3-26-12)