Do Churches Have To Let Servic Dogs In?

Normally ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT

SERVICE ANIMALS IN PLACES OF BUSINESS

ane. Q: What are the laws that apply to my business?

A: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), privately owned businesses that serve the public, such as restaurants, hotels, retail stores, taxicabs, theaters, concert halls, and sports facilities, are prohibited from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. The ADA requires these businesses to permit people with disabilities to bring their service animals onto business organisation premises in whatever areas customers are generally immune.

ii. Q: What is a service animal?

A: The ADA defines a service animal equally whatsoever guide dog, point dog, or other animal individually trained to provide help to an individual with a disability. If they meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government.

Service animals perform some of the functions and tasks that the individual with a disability cannot perform for him or herself. Guide dogs are one type of service animal, used by some individuals who are blind. This is the blazon of service beast with which about people are familiar. But there are service animals that assist persons with other kinds of disabilities in their twenty-four hour period-to-day activities. Some examples include:

_ Alerting persons with hearing impairments to sounds.

_ Pulling wheelchairs or carrying and picking up things for persons with mobility impairments.

_ Assisting persons with mobility impairments with balance.

A service animal is non a pet.

3. Q: How tin can I tell if an brute is really a service animal and not simply a pet?

A: Some, but not all, service animals wear special collars and harnesses. Some, but not all, are licensed or certified and have identification papers. If you are not certain that an animal is a service animal, y'all may ask the person who has the animal if it is a service creature required considering of a disability. However, an individual who is going to a eating place or theater is not likely to be carrying documentation of his or her medical condition or disability. Therefore, such documentation generally may not be required as a condition for providing service to an individual accompanied by a service animal. Although a number of states have programs to certify service animals, you may not insist on proof of country certification before permitting the service animal to accompany the person with a disability.

four. Q: What must I practice when an individual with a service animal comes to my business concern?

A: The service beast must be permitted to accompany the individual with a disability to all areas of the facility where customers are normally allowed to get. An individual with a service animal may non exist segregated from other customers.

5. Q: I take e'er had a clearly posted "no pets" policy at my establishment. Do I still take to allow service animals in?

A: Yes. A service animal is not a pet. The ADA requires you to modify your "no pets" policy to allow the use of a service fauna by a person with a inability. This does not mean you must abandon your "no pets" policy birthday merely but that you lot must make an exception to your full general rule for service animals.

6. Q: My canton wellness section has told me that only a guide dog has to be admitted. If I follow those regulations, am I violating the ADA?

A: Yes, if you pass up to admit any other blazon of service fauna on the basis of local health department regulations or other state or local laws. The ADA provides greater protection for individuals with disabilities and so it takes priority over the local or country laws or regulations.

7. Q: Can I accuse a maintenance or cleaning fee for customers who bring service animals into my business?

A: No. Neither a deposit nor a surcharge may be imposed on an private with a disability as a status to allowing a service fauna to accompany the individual with a disability, even if deposits are routinely required for pets. However, a public accommodation may charge its customers with disabilities if a service animal causes damage then long equally it is the regular practice of the entity to charge non-disabled customers for the same types of damages. For example, a hotel can charge a guest with a inability for the cost of repairing or cleaning furniture damaged by a service animal if it is the hotel's policy to charge when non-disabled guests cause such damage.

8. Q: I operate a individual taxicab and I don't want animals in my taxi; they scent, shed hair and sometimes have "accidents." Am I violating the ADA if I refuse to pick up someone with a service fauna?

A: Yes. Taxicab companies may non turn down to provide services to individuals with disabilities. Private taxicab companies are likewise prohibited from charging higher fares or fees for transporting individuals with disabilities and their service animals than they charge to other persons for the same or equivalent service.

9. Q: Am I responsible for the brute while the person with a disability is in my business?

A: No. The care or supervision of a service animal is solely the responsibility of his or her owner. You lot are not required to provide care or food or a special location for the animate being.

10. Q: What if a service animal barks or growls at other people, or otherwise acts out of control?

A: You may exclude whatever animal, including a service fauna, from your facility when that animal's behavior poses a straight threat to the wellness or safety of others. For instance, whatsoever service animate being that displays vicious beliefs towards other guests or customers may be excluded. You may non make assumptions, nevertheless, well-nigh how a detail animal is probable to comport based on your past experience with other animals. Each state of affairs must be considered individually.

Although a public accommodation may exclude any service animate being that is out of command, information technology should give the individual with a disability who uses the service animal the option of continuing to enjoy its goods and services without having the service brute on the premises.

11. Q: Can I exclude an beast that doesn't really seem dangerous merely is disruptive to my business organization?

A: At that place may be a few circumstances when a public accommodation is not required to adapt a service animal--that is, when doing so would issue in a fundamental alteration to the nature of the concern. Generally, this is non likely to occur in restaurants, hotels, retail stores, theaters, concert halls, and sports facilities. Simply when it does, for instance, when a dog barks during a movie, the animal can exist excluded.

If you have further questions virtually service animals or other requirements of the ADA, you may call the U.S. Department of Justice's toll-costless ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (phonation) or 800-514-0383 (TDD).

July 1996
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