Men-Only Swimming Hours At Majority-Orthodox Condo Pool Is Illegal, Court Rules
Image by Halfpoint/iStock
(JTA) — A federal appeals court has ruled that separate swimming hours at a condominium complex in Lakewood, New Jersey is illegal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a decision on Monday said that the separate swimming hours in the outdoor pool of the A Country Place over-55 community were a violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The complex had changed its rules in 2016, to accommodate the religious laws of modesty upheld by the Orthodox Jewish residents, who made up two-thirds of the condo’s residents at the time, NJ.com reported.
The rules only allowed men and women to swim together between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays and all day Saturday, and most of the women’s hours took place during regular workday hours, preventing working women from being able to use the pool regularly. Women were allowed 3.5 hours of pool time after 5 p.m. on weeknights compared to 16.5 hours for men.
Three non-Orthodox residents, including a husband and wife who wanted to be able to swim together, filed the lawsuit in September 2016 after they were fined for refusing to get out of the pool when co-ed swimming hours ended.
A U.S. District Court judge had ruled in January that separate swim hours is not discriminatory because it applied to both sexes equally. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decision overruled that.
The post Separate-swimming hours at NJ condo complex illegal, federal appeals court rules appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Pro-Israel groups called for Mohsen Mahdawi’s deportation. He was arrested at a citizenship interview.
-
Fast Forward Language apps are putting Hebrew school in teens’ back pockets. But do they work?
-
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
-
Fast Forward Trump administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil for undermining U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism, judge rules
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 3
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
- 4
Fast Forward How Coke’s Passover recipe sparked an antisemitic conspiracy theory
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Pro-Israel groups called for Mohsen Mahdawi’s deportation. He was arrested at a citizenship interview.
-
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
-
Opinion This Nazi-era story shows why Trump won’t fix a terrifying deportation mistake
-
Opinion I operate a small Judaica business. Trump’s tariffs are going to squelch Jewish innovation.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.