This chapter shall be known as the "Cheltenham Township Human Relations Ordinance."
The following words and phrases, when appearing in this chapter, shall have the meanings given to them under this section. Any words and phrases appearing in this chapter but not defined in this section shall have the meanings given to them in the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
A.
Any building, structure or facility, or portion thereof, which is used, occupied or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied for the purpose of operating a business, an office, a manufactory or any public accommodation; and
B.
Any vacant land offered for sale or lease or held for the purpose of constructing or locating thereon any such building, structure, facility, business concern or public accommodation.
COMMISSION
The Cheltenham Township Human Relations Commission.
DISCRIMINATION
Except as otherwise provided herein, any discriminatory act(s) taken by any person, employer, entity, employment agency, or labor organization, with respect to or involving a transaction related to employment, housing accommodations, public accommodations, or publicly offered commercial property, on the basis of a person's actual or perceived race, color, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin, handicap, disability or use of guide or support animals and/or mechanical aids because of blindness, deafness or physical handicap of the user or because the user is a handler or trainer of support or guide animals, or because of an individual's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Age discrimination, however, shall not apply to public accommodations.
DISCRIMINATORY ACT(S)
All acts or actions defined in the Pennsylvania
Human Relations Act as unlawful discriminatory practices as
related to employment, housing accommodations, public accommodation, or publicly offered commercial property transactions, because of actual or perceived race, color, age, religious creed, ancestry, sex, national origin, handicap, disability or use of guide or support animals and/or mechanical aids because of blindness, deafness or physical handicap of the user or because the user is a handler or trainer of support or guide animals or, in addition, as set forth in §
26-11 below, because of an individual's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
EMPLOYEE
An individual employed by an employer, but not individuals who, as a part of their employment, reside in the personal residence of the employer.
EMPLOYER
The term includes the commonwealth or any political subdivision or board, department, commission or school district thereof and any person employing four or more persons within the commonwealth.
EMPLOYMENT
The hiring, promotion and termination of an individual for a position as an employee and the compensation, tenure, terms, conditions and privileges of employment.
GENDER IDENTITY or GENDER EXPRESSION
Self-perception, or perception by others, as male or female, including an individual's appearance, behavior, or physical characteristics, that may be in accord with, or opposed to, one's physical anatomy, chromosomal sex, or assigned sex at birth, and shall include, but is not limited to, persons who are undergoing or who have completed sex reassignment, are transgender or gender variant.
HOUSING ACCOMMODATION
1) Any building, structure, mobile home site or facility, or portion thereof, which is used or occupied or is intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied as the home residence or sleeping place of one or more individuals, groups or families, whether or not living independently of each other, and 2) any vacant land offered for sale or lease or held for the purpose of constructing or locating thereon any such building, structure, mobile home site or facility. The term "housing accommodation" shall not include any personal residence offered for rent by the owner or lessee thereof or by his or her broker, salesperson, agent or employee, provided that such person does not own more than three such single-family houses at any one time.
HOUSING FOR OLDER PERSONS
A.
Housing:
(1)
Which is intended for and solely occupied by persons 62 years of age or older; or
(2)
Which is intended and operated for occupancy by at least one person 55 years of age or older per unit.
B.
In determining whether housing qualifies as housing for older persons under this section, the Commission's requirements shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1)
At least 80% of the units are occupied by at least one person 55 years of age or older per unit.
(2)
There is publication of, and adherence to, policies and procedures which demonstrate an intent by the owner or manager to provide housing for persons 55 years of age or older;
(3)
The housing complies with regulations promulgated by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission for verification of occupancy.
ORDINANCE
This Ordinance No. 2237-12, which shall be referred to as the "Cheltenham Township Human Relations Ordinance" or "this chapter."
PERSON
One or more natural persons, fraternal, civic or other membership organizations, corporations, general or limited partnerships, proprietorships, limited liability entities, or similar business organizations, including the Township, its departments, boards and commissions, and any other for-profit and nonprofit organization.
PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION
Any accommodation, resort or amusement which is open to, accepts or solicits the patronage of the general public, including but not limited to inns, taverns, roadhouses, hotels, motels, whether conducted for the entertainment of transient guests or for the accommodation of those seeking health, recreation or rest, or restaurants or eating houses, or any place where food is sold for consumption on the premises, buffets, saloons, barrooms or any store, park or enclosure where spirituous or malt liquors are sold, ice cream parlors, confectioneries, soda fountains and all stores where ice cream, ice and fruit preparations, or their derivatives, or where beverages of any kind are retailed for consumption on the premises, drugstores, dispensaries, clinics, hospitals, bathhouses, swimming pools, barbershops, beauty parlors, retail stores and establishments, theaters, motion-picture houses, airdromes, roof gardens, music halls, race courses, skating rinks, amusement and recreation parks, fairs, bowling alleys, gymnasiums, shooting galleries, billiard and pool parlors, public libraries, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, high schools, academies, colleges and universities, extension courses and all educational institutions under supervision of this commonwealth, nonsectarian cemeteries, garages and all public conveyances operated on land or water or in the air as well as the stations, terminals and airports thereof, financial institutions and all commonwealth facilities and services, including such facilities and services of all political subdivisions thereof, but shall not include any accommodations which are in their nature distinctly private.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Cheltenham, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect any suit or proceedings in any Court, any rights acquired or liability incurred, any permit issued, or any cause or causes of action existing under the Township's Code of Ordinances prior to the adoption of this amendment.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed to limit the right of an aggrieved person to recover under any other applicable law or legal theory.
This chapter shall have no jurisdiction over matters which are the subject of pending or prior filings made by an aggrieved person before any state or federal court or agency of competent jurisdiction.