Follow this process for accommodating disabled employees' service animals at work.

• Author: Davenport, Anniken

Many people with disabilities use service animals to navigate daily life. It should come as no surprise, then, that they often request permission to bring service animals to work as a reasonable accommodation. How far must an employer go to honor that request? Here's your guide to accommodating service animals at work.

The ADA and service animals

The ADA requires employers to reasonably accommodate disabled employees so they can perform a job's essential functions. Common disability accommodations include easing workplace access, granting extra breaks and providing special equipment.

Some disabled people--such as those with vision impairments--may use a trained dog to navigate. Others use specially trained service animals that can predict epileptic seizures or drops in blood sugar. For employees with anxiety or post-traumatic-stress disorder, service animals may provide comfort and bolster confidence.

While the employment provisions of the ADA don't define "service animal," the public-access provisions of the law say a service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. The law says nothing about service animals other than dogs.

Accommodating service animals

If an employee uses a service animal, follow these accommodations steps:

* If your organization has a no-animals-at-work policy, consider waiving the ban for disabled workers.

* Determine why the disabled worker needs the service animal. You may ask for documentation of what service the canine provides, along with evidence the animal is trained. There are no uniform standards for training or certifying service animals. Consider each case on its own.

* Offer a trial period. Allowing the disabled worker to bring the animal for a test run will help you determine if its presence will cause problems or...