Lawmakers and business owners are hopeful that a new Minnesota service animal law will cut down on the number of people who misrepresent their pets as service animals in order to take advantage of the legal protections available to people who require the services of a qualified assistance animal.
The law, which was signed by Governor Mark Dayton on April 26, 2018, prohibits individuals in the state of Minnesota from misrepresenting an unqualified animal as a service animal and subjects violators to a penalty. It also provides legal protections for business owners who are required to permit service animals access to their property.
Service animal protections in Minnesota and the U.S.
Under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, it is “an unfair discriminatory practice” for the owner, operator, or manager of any public place – including a hotel, restaurant, or public conveyance – to prohibit a person with physical or sensory disabilities from taking a service or assistance animal into the public place, so long as the service animal is properly harnessed or leashed so that the person can maintain control of them. The person cannot be charged an extra fee or charge due to the presence of their service animal.
Businesses are also required to permit the presence of a service animal under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Minnesota borrows its definition of service animal” from the federal law. A “service animal” is defined by the 2010 ADA Title III Regulations as a dog (although in some circumstances, a miniature horse may also qualify) that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.
The tasks must be directly related to the individual’s disability, such as assisting individuals who are blind, alerting individuals who are deaf to the presence of people or sound, or assisting an individual during a seizure. Emotional support animals, which may provide psychiatric or emotional benefits but are not trained to perform a specific task, do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
Service animal misrepresentation on the rise
Service animals play a valuable role in public life by assisting in the performance of necessary tasks or providing preventative or ameliorative services which allow people with disabilities to access public accommodations, maintain employment, or simply enjoy an improved quality of life. To qualify as a service animal, dogs are required to undergo hours of rigorous training in which they learn to follow commands, perform tasks, and tune out distractions. While working, a service animal should be focused on its task, calm, well-behaved, and under the control of its owner.
Although most people who are accompanied by an animal when accessing stores, airplanes, or other public places are receiving valid assistance from a qualified service animal, business owners and public officials have noticed an increasing number of people who seek to take advantage of the protections of the law by misrepresenting their pets as service animals. Because they do not have the training required of service animals, these pets may be badly-behaved and may even act aggressive to humans or other animals.
This creates problems not just for business owners, who must navigate their obligations under the law while dealing with angry clientele and untrained animals, but also for persons with disabilities. The wave of bad behavior from pretenders has forced people with disabilities to face degrading public trust in the qualifications of their service animals, and some untrained animals may try to distract or even attack a service animal if they are both in the same public environment.
Minnesota service animal law cracks down on pets in vests
The new Minnesota service animal law establishes that the owner or other person in control of a location which is required by law to be accessible to a person using a service animal is not liable for any injury or damage caused by the service animal. This section of the law applies only if the owner believes in good faith that the animal is a service animal or the person using the service animal represents that the animal is a service animal, and if the injury or damage is not caused by the business owner’s negligence.
Another portion of the law prohibits a person from intentionally misrepresenting an animal as a service animal in any place of public accommodation in order to obtain any rights or privileges available to a person who qualifies for a service animal under state or federal law. The law specifies that misrepresenting an animal as a service animal is prohibited whether the misrepresentation occurs “directly or indirectly through statements or conduct.”
A person who violates this law is guilty of a petty misdemeanor on their first offense and subject to a fine of $100. Violating the law a second or subsequent time is a misdemeanor, which is considered a criminal offense for which a fine of up to $1000 or 90 days in prison, or both, may be imposed.
Both sections of the Minnesota service animal law go into effect on August 1, 2018.
Help for business owners: Minnesota service animal law poster and upcoming guidance
The Minnesota service animal law advises that the Council on Disability may prepare a brochure or other materials which will provide guidance to business owners on “permissible questions a business owner may ask to determine whether an animal is a service animal, proper answers to these questions, and guidelines defining unacceptable behavior.”
Persons in control of a place of public accommodation are also permitted to post a conspicuous sign in a location accessible to public view which states that that it is illegal for a person to misrepresent an animal in that person’s possession as a service animal. The sign must also specify that genuine service animals are welcome.
CPC will be creating a Poly Vinyl, easy-to-post version of this voluntary notice for the convenience of business owners in advance of the law’s effective date. Sign up for email notifications or follow us on social media to be advised when this new poster is ready to order, or to keep up with labor law and posting compliance news.
ETA (July 20. 2018): The Minnesota Service Animal Sign is now available in an 11″ x 8.5″ full-color format for $9.95.
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We will never visit Minnesota again after being denied entrance to a state park with our service animal. Pass all the laws you want, but it will come back to bite you in the butt. People with disabilities cannot be discriminated against and our mentally handicapped daughter has every right to her emotional support animal.
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If the dog is a service animal, you have a potential lawsuit against the state of Minnesota. If the dog is an emotional support animal, as you later referred to it, then its access to public places is not protected under the ADA. They are two different classes of animals and different laws apply. (My daughter has an emotional support animal and the law protects her keeping it in rental housing, but she cannot bring it shopping or to other places where animals usually are not permitted.)
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An emotional support animal is not the same thing as a task trained service animal (dog or mini horse). The article explained how the ADA does not allow emotional support animals to accompany their handlers anywhere- ONLY service animals. The park was right to deny access to an emotional support animal and parks have very specific rules of their own as well.
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You were denied entrance to a state park? Normal pets are allowed into state parks with no problems; we bring our three dogs all the time. Wait, are you one of those people with a peacock or hippo or something as a “service animal”?
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Emotional support animals are not service animals. Service animals are required to go through rigorous training, and reflect this with impeccable behavior in turn. Untrained animals are a risk to the public, and in the case of a state park, a risk to wildlife. Get an officially trained and certified dog or leave them at home. Most state parks allow pets on specified trails, unless conditions are made unsafe for or by the animal. If your animal was misbehaving, even if it was projected as a service animal, one would be perfectly within their legal rights to remove the animal from the park.
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If the dog is a service animal, you have a potential lawsuit against the state of Minnesota. If the dog is an emotional support animal, as you later referred to it, then its access to public places is not protected under the ADA. They are two different classes of animals and different laws apply. (My daughter has an emotional support animal and the law protects her keeping it in rental housing, but she cannot bring it shopping or to other places where animals usually are not permitted.)
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My mom is blind, hard of hearing, in a wheelchair. She needs her dog to trip sensor lights at times when she gets disoriented, and to alert her to things she cannot see or hear herself in a bad neighborhood. Her dog is her eyes, ears, and early warning system. The dog she had died. Doctors wrote letters for her to get another service dog. After grieving the loss of her original dog (waking up in the middle of the night crying/screaming for her dog) she finally decided to replace her yesterday, but of course this is a process. She bought a little purse-like kennel to carry her in because this dog is in training and we don’t like the attention drawn to her (because its a nuisance). The manager of the Veranda in Red Wing refused to serve us. Told us we were illegal. Although the dog happened to be hot and whimpering a bit (which we were attending to) she wasn’t bothering anyone else. We were just seated when we were asked to leave. For reasons I am not going to go into here, we are not going to pay $40,000 to be sent to a training facility. We are training our own.
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Which you are able to train your own how ever some places can still deny access… I am training my own dog b/c I was denied by 2 different trainers (even though I have dr notes stating I need a dog) i got him a vest and also got a patch to indicate “Service Dog In Training” I have found more places saying no then yes b/c of people pretending their dogs are service dogs and which has put a bad taste in the businesses mouths…. most are only allowing already trained dogs …. but how can they get trained if they aren’t allowed access??? Luckily 1 of my grocery stores allow him to come in and train and I have talked to subway as soon as he passes his training at the house I’ll be able to come in and test him there to see how he does … I have found if I talk to my normal places I go they are more likely to agree … it the other places that I dont visit often who get scared.
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You are the reason the law came into effect you cannot train your own service animal and have it wear a fake vest this is a strict law first offense is a 100.00 fine the second offense is 1000.00 fine or 90 days in jail go through the proper channels to get a professional trained service animal from the ADA
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Hi W,
While I appreciate your passion, I just want to clear this up: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not provide professionally trained service animals, because it is not a government agency. The ADA is a federal law which prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of their disability, including their use of a service animal. The law does not require service animals to pass a specific course, be trained by a specific person, or wear a vest or other clothing from a specific source.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a service animal is simply defined as a dog (or miniature horse) that is “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities…The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.” If an animal meets this definition, it is legally a service animal.
There is no official certification process which is recognized by the U.S. government, so individuals may secure training for their service animal in whatever manner they wish, including training their own service animal and securing a vest or other clothing to let the public know that the animal is a service animal.
Thanks,
Katy
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Sandra,
Technically, according to Minnesota state law regarding service animals, you were illegal and they had every right to kick you out. Before you jump to conclusions about me (I’m in the process of getting an SD myself, so yes, I’ve done my research), here’s why:
Under Minnesota Statute 256C.02 “PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS.” (can find it here: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/256C.02), it says, “The service dog must be capable of being properly identified as from a recognized school for seeing eye, hearing ear, service, or guide dogs.” The ADA grants fully trained SDs unrestricted public access (except for sterile environments (never allowed) and private clubs & places of worship (up to the institution)), so the part about having to be from a recognized organization doesn’t apply to them (because state laws for SDs don’t apply if they’re more limiting than federal law), but it does to SDiTs. So it appears that you can’t owner train in non-pet friendly places in MN unless the dog has completed its in-training phase. [And Michelle, I grew up in MN and was a bit confused by that as well (I don’t live there anymore, but I visit often, so I figured when I started this whole journey almost 2 years ago that I’d do my research about MN anyway), but that is the law – each state can make its own laws about whether to grant SDiTs public access, because the ADA doesn’t protect them: some states do, some states don’t, and some have certain restrictions (Minnesota falls into this last one).] That doesn’t mean I agree with it (because I definitely don’t – I think it’s extremely unfair) – but even so, knowing that that is the law, I will NEVER break it; the law is what it is, and, until it is changed, no non-pet friendly place of public accommodation in the state of Minnesota is required to allow an owner trained SDiT that is still in its in-training phase to come into their establishment. I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but that’s the way it is. However, there are a variety of pet friendly places all over the state where owner training can take place legally – just do a google search for the area you want.
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I have an ESA and I get very upset at people passing off pets as service animals. I know my ESA is not allowed in business like a specially trained Service dog and I would not attempt to take him in them. I do know he would be allowed to fly with me but I would not put him through that trauma. When I need him I need him at home to calm me. I need him to get me to leave the house numerous times per day. I need him to bring me into the present when I am struggling with debilitating flash backs. I struggle with anyone having a service dog or an ESA that is not on a full or partial disability.
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ESA are not service animals period rentals having a no pet policy do not have to allow these types of animals anymore. Only actual service animals that are specifically trained to perform tasks for the disabled person are allowed in the building I live in now which makes sense as they do not bark or disturb others and are house broken.
Too many people were abusing the system and it’s finally caught up with them
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ESA or emotional support animals are not service dogs. But, there are such things as PSD or Psychiatric Service Dogs who provide support for those of us with a mental illness. I agree that a ESA is a pet who should also have GOOD MANNERS. As a resident of a senior community apartment complex, that had many ESA approved dogs I met meany dogs that barked uncontrollably, lunged, nipped and were otherwise not suitable for the public. That being said, I lived with people displaced from their homes, spouses and family and their pet was their best and sometimes only friend. Emotional support animals have a very real and necessary place in our society.