Service and Emotional Support Animals and Pets Policy
(with Acknowledgment) (Non-Public Workplace)

Summary

This template is a service and emotional support animals and pets policy that governs the employer's rules on animals in the workplace and identifies the process by which an employee can make a request to bring an animal to work as a reasonable accommodation. This template includes practical guidance, drafting notes, and alternate and optional clauses. This template is intended for private employers. Employers may include this policy in an employee handbook or distribute it as a standalone policy. It is based on federal law and does not address all potential state law distinctions; thus, you should check any relevant state and local laws. This template provides the employer with the option to permit all employees to bring their pets to work or to prohibit all pets in the workplace except for service animals, emotional support animals, or pets as a reasonable accommodation. For information on service animals, emotional support animals, and pets in the workplace, see Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Pets: Accommodation Rules and Best Practices. For a policy governing service and emotional support animals and pets in places of public accommodation, see Service and Emotional Support Animals and Pets Policy (Public Accommodation or Place). For information on reasonable accommodations, see Disability and Reasonable Accommodation Policies: Key Drafting Tips, Americans with Disabilities Act: Guidance for Employers, and Accommodating a Disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act Checklist. For templates related to the reasonable accommodation of disabilities, see Disability and Reasonable Accommodation Policy, Disability Accommodation Request (ADA), and Disability Accommodation Request Resolution (ADA). For state-specific practice notes that cover disability law, see Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation State Practice Notes Chart. For a resource kit on disability issues in employment, see Disability Law Resource Kit.