Civil Rights Laws Covering Service Animals

Persons with disabilities requiring the use of service or assistance animals are protected from discrimination

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Venue	Relevant Civil Rights Law
Privately-Owned Housing	Fair Housing Act
Places of Public Accommodation including privately-owned/operated Colleges and Universities	Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act
State and Local Government Programs and Activities including publicly-owned/operated Housing, Colleges, and Universities	Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Public Transportation	Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Privately-Operated Transportation, e.g., Hotel Shuttles, Taxicabs	Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Air Travel	Air Carrier Access Act
Workplace	Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act

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Where a service animal might be validly excluded from entry, the decision should be made by a qualified person. A security guard in a hospital would not be qualified to deny a person using a service animal from entering. Someone from infection control, for example, would be qualified.

The Americans with Disabilities Act supercedes state laws unless state law is more stringent.

Prepared September 2008