[Artemisia] service animals - was pets at events

[Mike Bradley]

On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 9:57 PM, Jason Mohler<darkside at bresnan.net> wrote:
>
> That's where we get into murky water.  If we view our members as employees,
> then we can require prescriptions and the whole nine yards - of our members.
> Non-members would fall under the category of customers, meaning we can't do
> more than ask if they're service animals. And courts tend to side in favor
> of the ADA, so any attempts to add extra requirements could easily be seen
> as discrimination.
>
What the...?

First of all, "we" (meaning the Society for Creative Anachronism,
Inc.) do not consider members (by which I assume you mean paid
members) to be employees, nor are non-members (people who attend
events without sending money to Milipitas on annual basis OR people
who are not associated with the SCA in anyway, either way) customers
in any way, shape or form.  There are very specific legal requirements
as to what constitutes an employee and a customer and members (in the
general, common English definition)  of the SCA do not meet those
requirements (with the exception of *actual* employees of the SCA,
those very few people that they are).

Events held by the SCA are *private* functions.  They are not (to
paraphrase Federal and State laws) "businesses open to and providing
services to the general public", and as such (like Maire pointed out)
are not subject to the majority of the provisions of the ADA or state
laws regarding the allowance of service animals.  Legally, we are no
more required to allow animals, including service animals, at events
than I would be to allow someone to bring their animal into my house.
Because we are a private organization, holding private functions, we
can set whatever rules we want for the attendance of animals at events
*including* requiring certification, marking, or whatever.  We can
also say 'no animals period'.  As we are an inclusive group, rather
than an exclusionary one, accommodations are usually voluntarily done,
rather than legally mandated.

Legally (as an example), Allen Hall could say "no animals will be
allowed on the Uprising site for any reason, anyone bringing an animal
will be turned away, anyone caught with an animal on site will be
evicted immediately". While I doubt that HG Alan would ever do that,
if he did, nobody could do anything about it but complain.

Personally, I don't like having pets at events.  For every handful of
good, responsible pet owners all it takes is one person being
negligent to ruin it.  That being said, I have no problem with actual
service animals at events.  They have been trained, are always with
their owner, and are looked after and picked up after since they are
necessary for the well being of those that they are with.  But, there
is still no requirement that we allow them on site, only courtesy.

And, my apologies and 100 bonus points to Juliana for accurately
predicting the pedantic legal discussion that would inevitably ensue.
:)

Mike, legal pedant
(Conchobhar just thinks dogs are those things for wiping grease off
your hands when eating roast fowl without utensils)