An employer has certain rights and is allowed to do the following:
1. Request reasonable evidence of the employee’s need for the assistance animal, such as a medical professional’s note. However, the employer may not ask detailed medical questions which would be an invasion of privacy rights and must consider other reasonable evidence if there is no medical professional note available.
2. Deny/eject the assistance animal if it causes an unreasonable nuisance or public safety hazard. For example, if there is a barking habit, flea infestation, evidence of an actual disease, aggressive behavior, feces or urine contamination due to the owner/handler neglecting to clean up, etc. Note that these must be actual rather than merely potential issues.
3. Refuse to accommodate the request for an assistance animal if it would cause an undue financial or another burden on the employer. For example, if the employer’s insurance carrier would cancel the insurance policy if a certain breed of dog, such as a pit bull or chow breed, were kept in the workplace, or if the accommodation would require extensive costs that would be considered objectively unreasonably high, such as physical alterations or construction.
Are you an owner of an assistance animal?
The Service Animal Registry of California invites you to have your assistance animal registered in order to designate its status. We also encourage you to take our online classes so you can be fully aware of your rights and gain more knowledge about your support animal.
Finally, we present to you our book entitled, “ASSISTANCE ANIMAL LAWS: LEARN YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING SERVICE ANIMALS, EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMALS, THERAPY PETS, AND OTHER DOGS, CATS, AND ASSISTANCE ANIMALS” to provide you with a complete education on assistance animals.
Purchase your copy of the book by clicking the text or image below.
