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Frequently Asked Questions

  • ​Employment: race, color, religion, national origin, age (over 40), sex, disability and retaliation

  • Housing: race, color, religion, familial status, national origin, sex, disability and retaliation

  • Public Accommodation: race, color, religion, national origin, and disability

  • Financial Transactions - see KRS 344.400: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, and disability

​Some examples include failure to hire, termination, failure to promote, sexual harassment, demotion, disability discrimination, and denial of rental housing based upon membership in a protected class.

​A complaint must be filed within 180 days for employment, public accommodations, and financial transactions. Housing complaints must be filed within 365 days.

Kentucky employers with eight (8) or more employees within the state in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year are covered, except where an employer is charged with disability discrimination, in which case only employers with fifteen (15) or more employees are covered by the Act.​

​Yes, it is illegal under state and federal laws to refuse to hire or to fire a woman just because she is pregnant.

​Yes, as long as the employer does not decide who will be tested based on their age, race, sex, religion, disability or national origin.

Yes.​

All real property (home, apartments, lots, etc.) rented or sold, whether by or through a real estate broker, sales agent or operator, or directly by the owner.

​NO. A landlord may have a "no pets" policy and enforce that policy, however, a guide dog or service animal is not a pet. Its purpose is to assist a person with a disability and acceptance of the service animal would be considered a reasonable accommodation.

​NO. Again, the landlord may establish a pet policy and related fee schedule. The fee schedule has no bearing on service animals; therefore, no pet fee or additional deposit may be charged to a person with a disability for having a service animal residing on the premises.  However, the landlord may require the tenant to follow pet policies not pertaining to fees.

The law states that the modification must be "reasonable." One of the tests of reasonableness is the effect or impact the modification will have on the rights of other residents. If the modification would severely restrict or interfere with other residents’ rights, it is possible that it may not be "reasonable." The law also states a property owner may not be required to violate another law, in order to comply with the fair housing law, e.g. zoning parking requirement, or fire codes. 

​NO. Charging higher rents or deposits is potentially unlawful in that it requires different terms and conditions based on a protected class disability. A landlord and renter may, however, negotiate a dollar amount which would be deposited into an escrow account, which would be sufficient to cover the cost of conversion when the premises is vacated.

A person with a mental disability who applies for Housing should be screened in the same manner and held to the same eligibility standards as other applicants. Acceptance or rejection of that person as a renter should be based on whether or not they meet the eligibility standards, not on the fact that the person has a disability. An applicant’s acceptance needs to be based on standards relating to rental history and behavior, not on the mental disability.

There may, however, be instances in which the disability has affected the individual’s ability to meet the eligibility ​standards and the landlord might permit an accommodation. For example, an individual’s credit may be low due to the disability, but everything else has checked out. The landlord then might agree to a six-month  lease as a trial period and extend to the usual full year if the rent is paid in full and on time.


​The law states that housing need not be made available to an individual whose tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals or whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others. Although some behaviors may be the result of a mental illness, the law does exclude certain behaviors from the protection of the law.

  • YES. Persons who have AIDS or are HIV Positive have protected class status under disability and are entitled to the full protection of the law.

  • In addition, KRS 207.250 makes it unlawful to disclose the fact that a current or former occupant is infected with HIV or has AIDS and also protects an owner or his/her agent from legal action for the failure to disclose that information.


Contact KCHR for more information.

Kentucky Commission on Human Rights
312 Whittington Parkway, Suite 020
Louisville, KY 40222
(502) 595-4024
(800) 292-5566
Fax: (502) 696-5230

No, it is unlawful to discriminate in the granting, rates, terms, conditions or services of financial assistance in real estate transaction​s.

​Yes, if restrooms are provided to the public.

​An alternation that includes a change in a "primary function area" must be made in a way that ensures that the path-of-travel to the altered area is accessible to people with disabilities. Restrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains for the altered areas must be accessible, unless their cost and scope are excessive (more than 20% of the total cost of the alteration).

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