Pets in the Workplace

Question: My employee has anxiety. Her doctor recommended that she get an “emotional support” pet. Now my employee is requesting an accommodation to bring her dog into the office. Does the dog need to be certified and trained as an emotional support dog? What is our legal obligation in this matter, and does it not fall under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)?

Answer: Yes, this falls under FEHA. As of December 30, 2012, California employers were required to welcome support dogs and other animals into the workplace as a reasonable accommodation for disabled workers requiring support under new disability regulations issued by the California Fair Employment and Housing Council.

The regulations require employers to allow “assistive animals” in the workplace as a reasonable accommodation. Assistive animals include not only service dogs for the visually and hearing impaired, but also support dogs or other animals that provide “emotional or other support to a person with a disability, including, but not limited to, traumatic brain injuries or mental disabilities, such as major depression.”

Employers may set minimum standards for assistive animals, such as requiring the animal to:

• Be free from offensive odors and display habits appropriate to the work environment. For example, the elimination of urine and feces;
• Not engage in behavior that endangers the health or safety of the individual with a disability or others in the workplace; and
• Be trained to provide assistance for the employee’s disability.

If an employee asks to bring an assistive animal into the workplace as a reasonable accommodation, the employer may require the employee to provide a medical certification from the employee’s “health care provider” (the definition of which is expansive) stating the employee has a disability and explaining why the employee requires the assistive animal as an accommodation. The employer may also require the employee to confirm that the animal meets the employer’s minimum standards.

Employers may challenge, based on objective evidence of offensive or disruptive behavior, that the animal meets their standards within the first two weeks the assistive animal is in the workplace. An employer may require annual recertification of the continued need for the support animal.

Reasonable Accommodations

As with any reasonable accommodation request, remember to use the interactive dialogue process. You have several options for how to respond, what you can require from an employee, and questions that you may ask. Create a file and keep everything in it—including detailed notes on conversations, copies of emails and documents, and a chronology of all these events.

More resources are available at: askjan.org the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), under Service Animals in the Workplace.