Tag Archives: ADA

Join Petra Risk Solutions at CH&LA’s California Conferences

CHLA Marketing Flyer 040116 FINAL

For more information on the Northern California Hotel & Lodging Conference, click here!

For more information on the Southern California Hotel & Lodging Conference, click here!

Comments Off on Join Petra Risk Solutions at CH&LA’s California Conferences

Filed under Conferences, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology

5 Questions, Answers About ADA Compliance

ADA

Hotel News Now has run numerous stories about compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA), with topics ranging from how to handle service animals to providing equal access to guests.

 

However, sometimes those articles inspired more questions from you. We asked two legal sources to provide some insights on your questions.

1. If someone comes in and asks me for a handicap room, can I ask them for proof they are disabled or handicapped at that point (such as a handicap sticker)?

Minh N. Vu of Seyfarth Shaw: “No. A hotel should not inquire about or require proof of disability when a person requests an accessible room. However, it would be appropriate to say something like: ‘The room you are requesting has features for guests with mobility and/or hearing disabilities. Would you like to continue booking this room?’ This clarification point is helpful to ensure that the person booking the room knows what type of room he or she is booking.”

2. If a hotel does charge more for an ADA room, what recourse is there? 

Minh N. Vu of Seyfarth Shaw: “Hotels cannot charge more for a room just because it is accessible. The rates for comparable accessible and non-accessible rooms must be the same. A person who has been charged more for an accessible room can claim an ADA Title III violation and bring a private lawsuit. He or she can also file a complaint with the Department of Justice.”

3. If a hotel must provide equal access to everyone and not charge an additional amount for service animals, then logic would follow that they cannot charge extra for a refrigerator to keep medication refrigerated. Can you comment on the legalities of this? 

Taylor Burras of Michelman & Robinson: “Hoteliers must make ‘reasonable modifications’ to their standard policies when accommodating a person with a disability. Section 36.301(c) of the Americans with Disabilities Act states: ‘A public accommodation may not impose a surcharge on a particular individual with a disability or any group of individuals with disabilities to cover the costs of measures, such as the provision of auxiliary aids, barrier removal, alternatives to barrier removal, and reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures, that are required to provide that individual or group with the nondiscriminatory treatment required by the Act.’ Thus, it would stand to reason that a hotel cannot charge extra for a refrigerator to keep medication refrigerated.”

4. Are therapy dogs classified as a “Service Dog”? We have seen a recent influx of travelers and they carry a tag that said “Certified Therapy Dog.”

Taylor Burras of Michelman & Robinson: “The ADA defines a ‘service animal’ as ‘any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disability.’ However, dogs with the sole function of providing comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA definition. Since they have not been trained to perform a specific job or task, such therapy dogs do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

“It’s important to note that the ADA makes a distinction between psychiatric service animals and emotional support animals. If the dog has been trained to sense that a neurological event or episode is about to happen and take a specific action that will help prevent, or lessen the impact, that dog would qualify as a service animal. However, if the dog’s mere presence provides comfort or emotional support, that would not be considered a service animal under the ADA.

“Notably, however, some state or local governments have laws that allow people to take emotional support animals into public places, so hotels should check with their state or local government agencies to find out if they may be subject to such a regulation.”

5. Is there an appropriate way to handle a situation where the dog is a service dog but not apparently working? (For example, there was a guest who had to carry the dog who was on chemotherapy and had arthritis in its back legs. He was trained, but it seemed he was retired and it was seemingly more of a rescue situation for a dog that had been in service.)

Minh N. Vu of Seyfarth Shaw: “When a hotel has reason to believe that a dog may not be a service dog, it can ask two questions: ‘Do you need this dog because of a disability?’ If the answer is yes, then the second question that can be asked is: ‘What work or tasks has this animal been trained to perform?’ If the owner cannot identify the work or tasks that the dog has been trained to perform for the person with a disability, the dog is not a service animal.”

For more: http://bit.ly/1ParGsU

Comments Off on 5 Questions, Answers About ADA Compliance

Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Veteran Says Hotel Dispute Over Service Dog Led to Arrest”

White suffered a traumatic brain injury and spinal wounds while serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistanservice animal in 2012 when a 200-pound improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. The Wyoming, Mich., resident said he has been on anxiety medication and has been helped greatly by Camo.

A bill making its way through the Legislature may prevent situations like the one Monday night in which a young veteran was arrested at a Bonita Springs hotel after he, his family and his service dog were denied lodging.

Jason White, 34, was arrested at the Best Western following a dispute with the hotel manager and staff over his service dog, Camo. He was charged with battery and destruction of property, the Lee County sheriff’s report said, after he kicked and cracked a television and shoved the hotel manager, Vinit “Vinnie” Patel.

For more: http://newspr.es/1Ej6AHZ

And for more on the do’s and don’ts of service animals, check out the video below from Petra’s own P3 Risk Management Team.

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/102936915 w=500&h=281]

Petra Risk Solutions’ Director of Risk Management, Todd Seiders, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘ADA Service Animals: Do’s and Don’ts’. 

P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.

For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.

Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Veteran Says Hotel Dispute Over Service Dog Led to Arrest”

Filed under ADA, Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Insurance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training

Hospitality Industry Technology Update: “Does YOUR Website Have to be Accessible Under the Americans with Disabilities Act?”

Clearly, it has no brick-and-mortar store that we can shop in so the answer should be “no ADA coverage for its website.” That is exactly what happened in its California district court case (Cullen).Handicap-Assessible1-300x225 But, in Massachusetts, the district court case (National Association of the Deaf) went the other way. Law school professors call such cases “outliers,” but in the courtroom today’s outlier sometimes becomes tomorrow’s conventional wisdom.

Is the internet a place of public accommodation: a virtual town hall or a virtual shopping mall or a virtual movie theater? Courts still struggle with that.

Physicalist courts say that the ADA requires a physical location. Ouelette v. Viacom, No. cv 10-133-M-DWM-JCL, 2011 WL 1882780 (D. Mont. March 31, 2011) (no ADA claim re YouTube); Noah v. AOL Time Warner, 261 F. Supp. 2d 532 (E.D. Va. 2003) (same re: chat room); Earll v. eBay, Inc., No. 5:11-cv-00262-JF (HRL), 2011 WL 3955485 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2011) (same: no ADA claim re eBay); Cullen v. Netflix, Inc., 880 F. Supp. 2d 1017 (N.D. Cal. 2012) (same: no ADA claim re Netflix); Jancik v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, No. SACV 13-1387-DOC, 2014 WL 1920751 (C.D. Cal. May 14, 2014) (same: no ADA claim re redboxinstant.com).

Virtualist courts say there are places in the heart and in the mind too. Those courts proclaim that the core meaning of the ADA is that “the owner or operator of a store, hotel, restaurant, dentist’s office, travel agency, theater, Website, or other facility (whether in physical space or in electronic space …) that is open to the public cannot exclude disabled persons from entering the facility and, once in, from using the facility in the same way that the nondisabled do.”

For more: http://bit.ly/1KJS79f

Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Technology Update: “Does YOUR Website Have to be Accessible Under the Americans with Disabilities Act?”

Filed under Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “New Year, New Challenges: What Hospitality Employers Need to Know”

As state and federal budget cuts tend to wane, the Department of Labor (DOL) is expected to step up enforcement against hospitality employers in the coming year. restaurant workerBecause the DOL considers the hospitality industry as a “fissured” industry, owners, franchisors, franchisees and management companies should be prepared to deal with inquiries, particularly in the areas of tipped employees and the misclassification of employees.

According the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hospitality sector added 321,000 additional jobs in 2014. With all those new employees, as well as the continued addition of jobs we expect to see in coming year, here are our top predictions for labor law issues that will play a vital role in the hospitality industry in 2015.

For more: http://bit.ly/17E9sRJ

Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Management Update: “New Year, New Challenges: What Hospitality Employers Need to Know”

Filed under Employee Benefits, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Hotel Restaurant, Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Training

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “As Marijuana Becomes Legal in More States, How Should Employers Handle Positive Drug Tests?”

“…Hospitality employers also need to be aware of potential violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) associated with medical marijuana.  Employers with facilities in states that allow medical marijuana use may need to provide a reasonable accommodation under the ADA for employees with a valid doctor’s authorization. 042314_acuna_marijuana_640 For instance, the New York statute permitting medical marijuana use automatically classifies every individual who is considered a Certified Patient as disabled.  Therefore, New York employers must engage in an interactive process with the employee to determine whether they need to provide the employee with a reasonable accommodation…”

Due to the ever changing laws surrounding the legality of marijuana, many of our hospitality clients have recently asked us whether it is lawful to terminate an employee who has tested positive for marijuana.  The answer varies greatly depending on the state in which you are located.

States continue to pass legislation legalizing marijuana use for specific purposes.  On July 5, 2014, New York became the twenty-first state along with the District of Columbia to legalize marijuana use for certain medical conditions—joining Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.  Two other states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized recreational marijuana use for individuals who are 21 years old or older, and Alaska and Oregon currently have similar legislation pending.

For more: http://bit.ly/1Bek1W8

Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Management Update: “As Marijuana Becomes Legal in More States, How Should Employers Handle Positive Drug Tests?”

Filed under Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership

Hospitliaty Industry Management Update: “Train Businesses on Service-Animal Laws” (With Video)

“…Customers do have a responsibility to ensure their service animals are behaved. service-dog-courseFederal law makes an exception if the dog is out of control and its handler does not control it, or if the dog is not housebroken. However, that only means the pooch can be removed from the premises; the handler still is entitled to full accommodation…”

When it comes to accommodating customers with service animals, some businesses need to be taught new tricks.

As reported Monday by The News-Journal’s Chris Graham, Steve Keene is the latest person with a service dog to have encountered difficulties at a local establishment in recent years. When the Port Orange resident showed up with his dog Kima at the Racing’s North Turn restaurant in Ponce Inlet, staff asked him for documentation proving the black Labrador-Australian shepherd mix is a service animal. When he became irate at the request, he was asked to leave.

For more: http://bit.ly/1ojcuAZ

For a brief video on how to best train your staff for handling guests with ADA service animals, check out the video below:

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/102936915 w=500&h=281]

Petra Risk Solutions’ Risk Management Director, Todd Seiders, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘ADA Service Animals: Do’s and Don’ts’. 

P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.

For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.

Comments Off on Hospitliaty Industry Management Update: “Train Businesses on Service-Animal Laws” (With Video)

Filed under Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Training

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Veteran, Local Service Dog Turned Away From Hotel”

“…He went to Panama City Beach with his dog, which he depends on, along with his parents and his roommate.Karl-Fleming-and-dog He went looking for a hotel room at the Front Beach Inn….Fleming said he was yelled at by the front desk clerk and told she had no vacancies when the sign out front read vacancy. Fleming said she later told police they had rooms…”

Karl Fleming was just looking to do something fun at the request of his family, but it turned into a distressing situation when he and his service dog were turned away from a hotel.

Army veteran Fleming attended K9s for Warriors camp in Ponte Vedra Beach. He graduated with his service dog ‘Kuchar’ last year and moved on, ready to face the world. But Wednesday night he had a setback.

Fleming has a traumatic brain injury as a result of a rocket propelled grenade while he was serving in Afghanistan in 2011.

For more: http://fcnews.tv/1A1SZAR

For a brief video on some of the steps you can take to help train your front desk staff at your hotel, check out the video below:

[vimeo https://vimeo.com/96622404 w=500&h=281]

Petra Risk Solutions’ Loss Control Manager, Marco Johnson, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘Front Desk Best Practices’. 

P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.

For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.

Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Veteran, Local Service Dog Turned Away From Hotel”

Filed under Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Training

Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Small Palm Springs Hotels Slapped with Disability Lawsuits”

“…The lawsuit claims Langer wanted to stay at her hotel back in March,calla lily inn palm springs - 01 but it didn’t have a parking space compliant with the American with Disabilities Act. Other hotel owners on Belardo Road said they’re getting sued for the same issue and were surprised to discover Langer has a reputation for filing lawsuits…”

Leslie Dunn owns the Calla Lily Inn in Palm Springs. The boutique hotel, built in the 1950s, has nine rooms and nine parking spots.

Her business is among at least four small Palm Springs hotels, including the Del Marcos Hotel and Chase Hotel, getting sued by Chris Langer, of San Diego, for not having handicapped accessible parking available on their property.

For more: http://bit.ly/1zu1apl

Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Small Palm Springs Hotels Slapped with Disability Lawsuits”

Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management

Hospitality Industry ADA Update: “Best Western Responds to Property That Refused Family With Service Dog”

“…Under the Americans with Disabilities Act,service dogservice animals can accompany people with disabilities in all areas where members of the public are allowed. Staffers are allowed to only ask two questions: Whether the dog is a service animal and what tasks he has been trained to perform…”

Best Western International has responded to its Baton Rouge property that refused the reservation of a North Carolina family traveling with a service dog by temporarily restricting the hotel from accepting reservations.

For more: http://yhoo.it/1yULoDz

Comments Off on Hospitality Industry ADA Update: “Best Western Responds to Property That Refused Family With Service Dog”

Filed under Claims, Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Hotel Restaurant, Management And Ownership, Training