An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 9 – Interactive Process: Employees and Students

definition of a service animal under the ADA. 1541 Thus, emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals are not considered service animals under the ADA because they have not been trained to perform a specific job or task. 1542 Under the FEHA, however, an employee might be permitted to bring an emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animal to the workplace, if the use of the animal is determined to be a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the interactive process. 1543 Similarly, if a private school provides residential living or housing for employees, under the federal Fair Housing Act, the school cannot discriminate against the ability to live and enjoy the housing based on disability, and therefore, the school might have a duty to consider emotional support dogs, or other animals (such as miniature horses) as reasonable accommodations. 1544 Examples of work or tasks performed by a service dog include, but are not limited to, assisting employees who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks; alerting employees who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds; providing non-violent protection or rescue work; pulling a wheelchair; assisting an employee during a seizure; alerting an employee to the presence of allergens; retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone; providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to an employee with mobility disabilities; and helping an employee with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors. 1545 Under the ADA, a private school must permit the use of a service dog by an employee with a disability, unless doing so would result in a fundamental alteration or jeopardize the safe operation of the school. 1546 In situations where an employee requests to use a service dog as a reasonable accommodation, the school’s permissible line of inquiry is very limited. Where it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal, the school may ask only two specific questions of the employee with the service dog to determine if it is a service animal: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?; and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? 1547 Also, the school may not request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task, require medical documentation, or inquire about the nature of the employee’s disability. 1548 Nor may the school insist on proof of state certification before permitting the entry of a service animal to the school. 1549 1550 Individuals who have service animals are not, however, exempt from local animal or public health requirements. 1551 Schools should ensure that service animals used on campus are licensed and have a current rabies vaccination. 1552 Note that the school’s permissible line of inquiry with regard to any other accommodations requested by, or otherwise needed by, an employee is much broader. See section 2.D below. The ADA requires that service dogs be under the control of the handler at all times. 1553 An employee with a disability may not be asked to remove his service dog from the school premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler of the dog does not take effective action to control it; or (2) the dog is not housebroken. 1554 In most instances, the handler will be the employee with a disability or a third party who accompanies the employee with a disability. The service dog must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered while in public places unless these devices interfere with the service dog’s work or the employee’s disability prevents use of these devices. In that case, the employee must use voice, signal, or other effective means to maintain control of

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