April,

As a followup, I just called the EEOC and the Job Accommodation Network information lines for more information.  The EEOC did not have an answer so they transferred me to the Job Accommodation Network.  I was told by the Job Accommodation Network that there is no mention whatsoever of service animal safety or safety gear in the regulations or the formal EEOC guidelines.  The Job Accommodation Network person was of the opinion that service animal safety equipment would be up to the individual with the service animal and not the employer.  With that in mind, you should be careful to examine any potential employer and workspace prior to accepting a job offer.  There are plenty of museums that have safety issues, especially small local history museums, and service animal safety appears to be a gray area in the law.  Your health and safety are definitely the responsibility of the employer, while the health and safety of the service animal seems to be your personal responsibility.  I am not sure if there are commercial respiratory protection gear for service animals, and I suspect that might interfere with their ability to do their tasks.  The service animal would also need to be bathed every time it leaves a contaminated collections area.

Thank you,

Michael R
​.​


On Sun, Mar 26, 2017 at 11:59 AM, Jan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi Michael,

DOJ is not responsible for ADA Title I compliance. April needs to contact EEOC if she wants to find out about "reasonable accommodations," a legal term of art that only applies to employment. EEOC's website is  https://www.eeoc.gov/.  April, you can also contact your regional office https://www.eeoc.gov/field/index.cfm for information. If you contact DOJ's ADA information Line, they'll send you to EEOC (I worked in the DOJ Disability Rights Section).  

Hope that helps. 
Jan

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On Mar 26, 2017, at 1:39 PM, Michael Rebman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

April,

If you are receiving a paycheck or compensation from the museum, then OSHA regulations apply to your work, regardless of student status.  For example, that means the museum needs to notify you if there are hazards within the collection and provide you with the necessary PPE and training to protect yourself.  OSHA has nothing specific for service animals as far as I can tell.  Keep in mind that hazards that can hurt humans are far more dangerous to smaller animals, like service dogs and especially corgis.  I am not a lawyer, but I suspect that a reasonable accommodation would not include providing respirators to service animals.  However, a reasonable accommodation would include ensuring that hazardous materials are not sitting out or actively being worked on when the service animal is present.  For ethical and animal safety reasons (but not ADA legal reasons), I suspect that most employers dealing with historic artifacts or natural history specimens would be hesitant to let a person with a service animal be the sole employee in a collections setting.  Regardless of whether or not a service animal is present, radioactive artifacts and pesticide-contaminated artifacts should not be outside of safe sealed storage, as OSHA would have kittens over unsafe storage or inadequate shielding (although they will accept administrative controls and mandatory PPE as an alternative to proper storage on an individual basis).  With a service animal, you have to be certain that your future employers know what they are doing in terms of collections safety.

To be sure that I am passing on the right information, I called my state's OSHA office to ask about regulations for service animal safety in the workplace, particularly in situations where employees must wear PPE.  Nobody answered, but they have responded fairly quickly to previous calls, and I will pass on their response when they call me back.  The DOJ has a toll-free information line for ADA rules that you can find on ada.gov; perhaps you should call them to ask about service animals and reasonable accommodations in areas where OSHA-mandated PPE has to be worn.

Thank you,

Michael R
​.​



On Sat, Mar 25, 2017 at 11:41 PM, Legatt, April Mary <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Thank you all for your suggestions.  I wasn't trying to be unclear in my post, it has been a stressful week.  My service dog is trained in two primary tasks so far, pressure therapy for when a panic attack hits and alerting to 
 or anxious behaviors.  She is a corgi, so she is relatively small but she works perfect for my lifestyle and disability.  
  I am a student; however, part of my degree includes working for the museum 20 hours a week.  Hence I am technically a student and right now my accommodations are coming through the school rather an employer.  Because of this, I didn't really want to give specifics that would put my school or employer in a specific light (good or bad) as they have never really dealt with this issue before.  I'm was hoping to get more information so that I can find a job where the employer won't view me and my dog as a problem if there are was to successfully accommodate the situation.
 
  Thanks again for all your suggestions
    April legatt

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