Civil Rights Laws Covering Service Animals
Civil Rights Laws Covering Service Animals
Persons with disabilities requiring the use of service or assistance animals are protected from discrimination
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
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