Emotional Support Animals and California Employment Law
Disability is a protected characteristic under federal and state law, which means that it is illegal to discriminate against employees or job candidates on the basis of disability. Employees and job applicants are entitled to reasonable accommodations for their disabilities at work and during the interview process, onboarding, and job training. Requesting reasonable accommodations for a disability is a protected activity, and so is complaining about disability discrimination.
There are as many types of disability accommodations as there are disabilities; not all employees who require accommodations will ask for wheelchair-accessible desks or speech-to-text software. Employees have the right to ask to bring service animals or emotional support animals to work, and employers must accommodate those requests to the extent feasible to them. For help navigating requests from employees regarding disability accommodations involving animals in the workplace, contact a California employment law attorney.
What is the Difference Between a Service Animal and an Emotional Support Animal
Employees with documented disabilities may request disability accommodations that enable them to bring service animals or emotional support animals to the workplace. Although both designations entail that the animal may go to certain places where pets are not usually allowed, they are not interchangeable. Service animals are always dogs, and although there is no uniform certification for service dogs, they have been trained to perform a specific task to help the person manage his or her disability. Examples include guiding a blind person in public places, helping a person with mobility impairments retrieve objects, or pressing a call button on a person’s necklace or bracelet to alert medical personnel when the person is having a seizure or other medical emergency.
By contrast, an emotional support animal does not have special training, but its presence helps the person manage symptoms and avoid adverse reactions to the environment. An emotional support animal can be any species of domestic animal commonly kept as a pet. Many emotional support animals are dogs, but cats, rabbits, parakeets, cockatoos, hamsters, and guinea pigs can also take on the role. California enacted a law in 2020 that allows people with disabilities to keep “unique animals,” defined as species not normally allowed as pets, as emotional support animals if they can justify a reason. For example, a mobility-impaired person who is allergic to dog dander may request to keep a monkey to help him or her retrieve objects in the same way as a service dog would.
Make Way for Emotional Support Chinchillas?
What counts as a reasonable accommodation varies according to context. The accommodation must help the employee perform his or her job duties, but it must not be financially burdensome for the employer. In most cases, it is reasonable to allow an employee to sit at his desk with an emotional support hedgehog sitting on his lap because doing so does not cost the employer any money, and the hedgehog does not make noises that distract other employees.
Contact SNR Law Group About Disability Accommodations in the Workplace
An employment law attorney can help you comply with laws regarding disability accommodations in the workplace. Contact SNR Law Group in Tustin, California, to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.employers.org/blog/2022/06/23/default/pets-in-the-workplace