Dear Heather - Irritated in Illinois (Fair Housing)

Dear Heather,

 
I just got written up for violating fair housing.  It's completely not fair, since I wasn't being discriminatory at all!  We have an indoor pool at my community and in the early afternoon there are a lot of senior citizen swimmers in there.  Last weekend, one of them was very annoyed because there were a lot of little kids in the pool who were splashing around and cannon balling into the water, right by them.  She complained, so I told the kids that they had to stay at the end of the pool that the older people weren't swimming in.  I thought it was a good compromise, but then one of the kid's parents (who NEVER controls their child to begin with!) came in and complained to the manager about my compromise.

 
I got written up.  It was complete crap.

 
I don't want you to think that I think fair housing laws are stupid, but my manager makes such a huge deal out of them!  I know they are super crucial to the industry, blah, blah, blah, but I don't understand why me doing something that's just good customer service is a violation of them.  Can you tell me how to fight this write up?  It's not fair, and it's not right.

-Irritated in Illinois
 

Dear Irritated in Illinois,
 
Oh, you're really not going like my answer.  You manager was right.  What you did was a violation of the Federal Fair Housing laws.  Unless you happen to work at a 55 and older senior community, you can't discriminate on any of the federal classes, and familial status is one of them.
 
We can't make different rules for children, just because they're uncontrolled or because we want to. Believe me, I understand your desire to make the best compromise possible with your residents, and I do give you credit for not banning the kids from the pool all together, which is a mistake I've seen MANY young leasing agents make.  But the truth of the matter is that we as property management employees cannot make any rules, policies or overt actions that are discriminatory against a protected class. 
 
To phrase it another way... you just sent those kids to the, "Back of the Bus."
 
I'm betting that when your parent complained, it was more about the fact that you were parenting her children than the way you handled the situation.  Working with children on site can either be an awesome experience in your day or the worst half hour of your day, depending on the kids and the parents.  Let me give you 2 good guidelines on when you can step in:

• The kids are causing a danger to themselves or to other residents - Absolutely step in here.  Step one, call their parents.  If you can't reach mom and dad then use good judgment.  I suggest talking to your manager and seeing what his or her prefered methods of resolution in this situation are.  They've been through it before and can give you a better road-map on how to get out of the mess.  That's what they're there for.
• The kids are causing damage to the property - Don't let that one stand either.  That property is your company's asset and in your lease it should say that the lease holders are responsible for the conduct and damages of their guests or occupants.  Some places will let this slide more than others, but I've seen places that will crank out a 10-Day with amazing speed in this circumstance.

 
And that's really about it.  Anything past that, you need to talk to your manager, because anytime we deal with kids we run the risk of violating fair housing unless we are VERY careful.
 
About your write up, talk to your manager and see if he or she would consider putting it in the "off the record" file, meaning it doesn't go directly against you, but if it happens again, then you're going to get slammed with both of them.  And to make sure it doesn't happen again, ask for a little more training on the subject.  If your company uses Grace Hill, you can retake those classes at any time, so it might be a good time to brush up on your knowledge.  There are also options available to you through Training Factor, who provides online training as well.  And if your local apartment association is running a CAM class, ask them how much it would be for you to sit through just that one class.  The information is FANTASTIC!  Please let me know if you need further resources.
 
Good Luck!
-Heather