Law Offices of Robert J. Ross

A condominium association adopted a rule forbidding the placement of any signs or symbols on doors or in hallways outside condominium units. When a Jewish resident placed a religious symbol on the doorpost of her unit, the association had it removed without her consent. The resident sued the association under the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), claiming religious discrimination, since she maintained that her religion required that she place the symbol outside the entrance to her residence.

The tenant’s claim under the FHA failed. That statute does prohibit discrimination based on religion, but, in contrast to disability discrimination, it does not require a “reasonable accommodation” of religious beliefs and practices. The challenged association rule did not target any particular religion, but instead was a religiously neutral, exception-free regulation adopted for reasons unrelated to religion. Under pertinent precedents of the United States Supreme Court, that neutrality made the rule valid as nondiscriminatory and consistent with preserving the constitutional right to exercise one’s religion freely. Under similar reasoning, the rule also withstood the challenge brought under the FHA.

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