Emotional Support Animals and California Employment Law
If you love animals, you probably seek out places where pets are welcome. You know which restaurants have outdoor seating, so that you can bring your dog with you to brunch, and you choose to meet your friends in the park to socialize, so that you can all include your dogs in the social event. By contrast, it is rare to see animals in a mall or office building or inside a restaurant. In fact, when you see a dog on a leash near a sign that says, “no pets allowed,” you might do a double take, but the human accompanying the dog usually has a reasonable, and legally valid, reason for bringing the animal there. Some people dress their guide dogs in vests that say “service animal,” just so they can get through an errand to the bank without multiple confrontations about whether they can bring the dog into the bank or on the bus that they rode to get there. Service animals and emotional support animals can be part of the reasonable accommodations afforded to people with disabilities in the workplace. If your employer is giving you pushback about bringing your emotional support animal to work, contact a Los Angeles discrimination and harassment lawyer.
What Is the Difference Between a Service Animal and an Emotional Support Animal?
Pursuant to California law, an employee may be entitled to bring a service animal or an emotional support animal to work as a reasonable accommodation for the employee’s disability. A service animal is a dog trained to perform certain tasks, such as guiding a blind person or helping him or her retrieve objects. An emotional support animal is a domestic animal whose presence helps a person with disabilities manage anxiety and prevent maladaptive responses to the environment.
Not all emotional support animals are dogs; they can be any domestic animal, but most of them are species commonly kept as pets, such as dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, rats, gerbils, and any of various bird species. A law passed in 2020 enabled people with disabilities to keep “unique animals” as emotional support animals if there was a justifiable reason for this. A unique animal is one that is legal to domesticate but not commonly kept as a pet. For example, if you need the animal to retrieve items for you but you are allergic to dogs, you can request another species capable of helping you in similar ways, such as a monkey.
Emotional Support Animals and Reasonable Accommodations for Employees With Disabilities
The laws about emotional support animals in the workplace are similar to the laws about any other accommodation for a disability. Your employer cannot discriminate against you for making the accommodation and must negotiate with you to find a mutually agreeable solution.
Speak With a Los Angeles Employment Discrimination Lawyer
A Los Angeles employment discrimination and retaliation lawyer can help you secure disability accommodations at work, including bringing an emotional support animal. Contact Litigation, P.C. in Redondo Beach, California to discuss your situation or call (424)284-2401.
Source:
employers.org/blog/2022/06/23/default/pets-in-the-workplace/
