PITTSBURGH - Good Works Ministries, Inc. sued Fayette County Commissioners and the county’s Zoning Hearing Board after they allegedly discriminated against the faith-based organization when they denied an application to run a drug abuse center.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on March 25. The defendants denied the application, stating that Good Works isn’t a Nursing Home/Convalescent Care Facility, so it can’t provide the accommodations it’s requesting. Good Works sued under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (that was later amended in 1988), the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Religious Land Use and the Institutionalized Persons Act.
The ZHB also determined, according to the lawsuit, “Even if, for argument purposes, the request of the petitioner could fall under a Nursing/Convalescent Facility it still must fail as the petitioner does not have the requisite one (acre of property required under the standards set forth in Section 1000-811 of the Fayette County Zoning Ordinance.”
The plaintiff is asking for damages for intentional discrimination and disparate impact, affirmative disability-based discrimination, defendants’ discrimination when it denied the application and the illegal violation of RLUIPA.