Frank C. Morris, Jr., Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Employee Benefits practices, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in HotelBusiness, in “ADA-Accessible Shuttles: What Not to Overlook,” by CJ Arlotta.
Following is an excerpt:
Properties offering shuttle service to guests are required by law to provide equivalent services to individuals with disabilities. There are some overlooked aspects of the law they may need to consider.
“Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires public accommodations that provide equal access to goods and services for those with disabilities,” said Frank C. Morris Jr., member of Epstein Becker Green, an employment law firm. “Specifically, the ADA requires ‘the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations of any place of public accommodations by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.’”
The shuttle service that properties offer to individuals with disabilities must be as convenient as the service provided to individuals without disabilities. “If a property provides shuttle service to support the primary business, it must provide equivalent service for people with disabilities,” Morris said. Areas to consider include fares, schedules or response times, hours of operation, pick-up and drop-off locations, and other measures of equivalent service. …
“The property may not require that the handler produce a license or certification from a state or local government to prove that the animal is a service animal,” Morris said. “The only questions that can be asked are whether the animal is a service animal and whether it has been trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. If a person with a service animal does not need a vehicle equipped for individuals with mobility impairments, the service animal must be permitted to accompany its handler on the regular shuttle.”
