Service Animals In The Workplace California

Perez By Andrea L.

Service animals in the workplace california. Assistive animals differ from what employers may already come expect when accommodating an employees disability. Advancements in animal training and alternative medical treatments mean that animals today can be much more than just pets. That said California rules do allow employers to set the following limits on the use of all assistive animals in the workplace.

A support animal sometimes called a comfort animal is one that provides emotional cognitive or other similar support to a person with a disability including but not limited to a traumatic brain injury or a mental disability such as major depression. The new definitions no longer use the same definition as at Civil Code section 54110 which specifically states that support animals. The ADA provides that service dogs can be in the workplace as a reasonable accommodation.

Depending on the type of work some workplaces may be exempt from allowing service animals in the workplace. When an employee with a disability requests the use of a service animal at work the ADA grants the right to an employer to request medical documentation to support the need for the accommodation if the need is not otherwise obvious. Thanks to Californias Fair Employment and Housing Act job applicants and employees are protected from discrimination in the workplace due to a physical or mental medical disorder that is disabling potentially.

If a service animal becomes too much of a disruption a workplace retains the ability to claim undue. What they might not know though is that the laws governing service animals in the workplace are well a bit hairier. In that case the person must use voice signal or other effective means to maintain control of the animal.

As for documentation for service animals in the workplace the ADA does allow for an employer to request medical documentation for the need for the disabled person to need this accommodation. In the employment context the statutory schemes that require reasonable accommodation for disabilities are the California Fair Employment and Housing Act FEHA and the Americans With Disabilities Act ADA. California law allows persons with disabilities to bring service dogs and emotional support animals to work with some limitations.

As any animal used to assist support or provide service to a person with disabilities but which does not meet the stricter definition of a service animal. Guides people who are blind. Service animals are not pets.