A condo association discriminated against a Jewish resident with a mezuzah on her door, a Florida human rights board ruled.
Tthe Port Condominim did not have the right to order Laurie Richter, 29, to remove the mezuzah or face a $1,000 fine, the Broward County human rights board said.
Richter also believed she could be evicted, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
She told the three-member panel of the rights board that after seeing Christmas wreaths on condo doors when she moved into the building in December 2006, she did not think a mezuzah would be a violation. Richter no longer resides in that building.
Richter will now mediate with the condo association or, if that fails, file a lawsuit. If the case is not settled, the Civil Rights Division of the Broward County Office of Equal Opportunity could fine the condo association up to $11,000.
Florida’s state House last week passed a bill making it illegal for a condo board to prohibit a small religious object on a door frame, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The state Senate will debate the bill this week.
