U.S. Dept of Justice - Service Animals, Revised

[ILGHAUS]

ADA
2010 Revised
Requirements

This publication provides guidance on the term “service animal” and the service animal provisions in the Department’s new regulations.

Old from Business Brief (April 2002)

Businesses may ask if an animal is a service animal or ask what tasks the animal has been trained to perform, but cannot require special ID cards for the animal or ask about the person's disability.

New

When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

Revised ADA Requirements: Service Animals

pdf version http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.pdf

[ILGHAUS]

Old from Business Brief (April 2002)

A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the animal is out of control and the animal's owner does not take effective action to control it (for example, a dog that barks repeatedly during a movie) or (2) the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others.

In these cases, the business should give the person with the disability the option to obtain goods and services without having the animal on the premises.

New

A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence.

[ASDogGeek]

Seems good anything you would add or change?

[ILGHAUS]

Old: "... or ask what tasks ..." (Led to the more than one task thought)

New: " ... what work or task ..." (No Plural/ only one task??)

I'm interested in hearing some feedback on this part. *Work* does mean a sequence of trained tasks with the dog being able to chain them together so that is good but I wonder about the *OR* part. A wiggle point that some will pounce on.


Old: "... the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others."

New: "... the dog is not housebroken."

Personally I would have preferred them to leave the old addressing directly the direct threat issue AND have added the part about not being housebroken.

I would like these issues to be more cut and dry without any wiggle room.

[ILGHAUS]

I thought it may be interesting to discuss a point that I've not seen spoken about on this forum before.

Remember all the threads where it has been brought up about what questions store staff may ask?

From the old Business Brief:
Businesses may ask if an animal is a service animal or ask what tasks the animal has been trained to perform, but cannot require special ID cards for the animal or ask about the person's disability.

From the new DOJ 2011 Publication:
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed.

Thoughts?????

[Germanshepherdlova]

Hotels, restaurants, airlines etc will now have to implement policies to allow mini horses as service animals. They are considered a reasonable accommodation. However, the mini horse must be housebroken. I found that interesting.

On the other hand animals such as chimps, pigs, goats, iguanas, birds, and rats-which people previously claimed to be service animals are no longer recognized as such.

[ILGHAUS]

Airlines are not under the Dept. of Justice but the Dept. of Transportation / Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA).
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The part that I was asking thoughts and opinions of is concerning the change from the Dept. of Justice Business Brief of 2002 and the Dept. of Justice 2011 Publication on allowed questions:

Businesses may ask if an animal is a service animal or ask what tasks the animal has been trained to perform, but cannot require special ID cards for the animal or ask about the person's disability.

-- vrs. --

When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.