As part of a
comprehensive review and reform to the Health Code, the Board of Health
approved several changes to Section 161 of the Health Code. The amendments
included introducing a description of the word "service dog" which
allowed the Department to issue a second tag to the owner of a service dog, at
no additional cost, in addition to a standard license. These tags had been
available elsewhere in the department. One can even bulk buy dog tags in these departments.
While the
Health Code regulations requiring the Department to issue service dog
Identification tags appear well-intentioned, their presence could in effect be undermining
the aims of the ADA and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws. The ADA
forbids places of business or other public housing, landlords and employers
from discriminating toward individuals with disabilities. This discrimination
involves a refusal to allow the entry of a service animal, which is identified
by the ADA as any specially trained dog to do work or perform tasks for the
benefit of a disabled person, regardless of whether the animal has a particular
tag identifying it as a service dog.
Free Service dog tags
Since the
Department introduced the free service tag for pets, some agencies became
confused and wrongly accommodated only people whose service dogs wear them.
Similarly, the Department was told that certain people with disabilities
wrongly thought they needed to wear service dog tags to exercise their law
enforcement rights. Indeed, the ADA regulations explicitly specify that a
public accommodation or agency "shall not require documentation, such as
evidence that the animal has been registered, trained or licensed as a service
animal".
Final Decision
To eliminate
the inadvertent obstacles created by the Health Code's inclusion of service dog
tags, the Health Board repeals the requirement and eliminates the definition of
"service dog" from Article 161 of the Health Code. The Mayor's Office
for People with Disabilities and the City Commission on Human Rights agree that
the Department should stop issuing service dog tags because the tags are not
needed; both organizations are worried that the tags could potentially work to
the detriment of people with disabilities and appear to confuse certain
business owners, causing them to unwittingly violate the ADA.
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