> Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.
There is far more to it than this. I did extensive research on service dogs and emotional support animals in 2015 when I was on staff of a convention.
I’m also very familiar with ADA due to my own disability. For example, off-hours support is not a considered an essential part of writing software, so you can’t enforce “you broke it, you support it” policies on people with work hour restrictions. Some people get really worked up about that.
Ignoring the "if possible" of your quote, the next section includes "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."
So, if you have someone that would legit be sent to the hospital by having a dog in the room, then that reads like you can require that the dog not be in the room. I suppose it is notable that that is not a common severe allergy?
If you have cases law going over any of this, I'd be mildly curious to read some of it. I get the intent of the rules. And I'm comfortable with the general guideline being that you have to try to comply without bailing at the first chance.
I don’t have any further information. I did the research a decade ago. Given I have severe allergies and asthma, it stuck with me.
My more recent research into ADA looked similar. Most of the time issues like this are solvable but the solution is inconvenient.
It’s also important to note that ADA does not apply to companies with less than 15 people. If you’re a small shop, you can hire someone else who isn’t allergic to dogs.
https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-2010-requireme...
There is far more to it than this. I did extensive research on service dogs and emotional support animals in 2015 when I was on staff of a convention.
I’m also very familiar with ADA due to my own disability. For example, off-hours support is not a considered an essential part of writing software, so you can’t enforce “you broke it, you support it” policies on people with work hour restrictions. Some people get really worked up about that.