Michigan Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

Under Michigan law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities can bring their service animals to all "public accommodations," such as hotels, restaurants, stores, and museums.

These laws also require those who operate transportation services to allow service animals.

Michigan law and the ADA are similar in that both sets of law offer broad protections to people with disabilities who use service animals to assist them, including:

• guide dogs who help people with visual impairments navigate safely
• hearing dogs who alert those with hearing impairments to important sounds, such as phone ringtones, doorbells, and alarms
• animals that help alert their handlers to impending seizures (and protect their handlers during seizures)
• animals that assist with holding and retrieving items, pushing, and pulling
• animals that help their users maintain physical stability and balance, and
• psychiatric service animals, which can interrupt self-destructive or dangerous behavior, alert users to the need to take medication, or diminish the effects of acute anxiety.

What's the Definition of a Service Animal in Michigan?

The ADA defines a service animal as a dog that's individually trained to perform tasks or do work for the benefit of a person with a disability. The tasks or work the animal does must be directly related to the person's disability. (28 C.F.R. § 36.104.) Michigan's service animal law uses the same definition.

Like the federal law, in some cases, a miniature horse individually trained in this way will also qualify as a service animal under Michigan law. However, the state law recognizes that miniature horses might be more difficult to accommodate and allows public accommodations to consider these factors in determining whether the animal can be accommodated:

• the size and weight of the horse
• the handler's ability to control the horse
• whether the horse is "housebroken," and
• whether allowing the horse into a specific facility compromises legitimate safety requirements.

Michigan law also protects service animals in training when the animal's raiser or trainer brings the animal to a public accommodation while training or socializing the animal. (Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.502c(3).)

Does Michigan Allow Emotional Support Animals in Public Places?

Neither the ADA nor Michigan's service animal law includes what are often referred to as "emotional support animals" (ESAs). ESAs are animals that provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to people with psychiatric or emotional disabilities or conditions. Although these animals often have therapeutic benefits, they aren't individually trained to perform specific tasks for their handlers.

Under the ADA and Michigan law, owners of public accommodations aren't required to allow emotional support animals, only service animals. These laws also don't apply to pets.

However, federal housing law does treat emotional support animals as assistance animals that may need to be accommodated (more on this below).

Which Public Accommodations Must Allow Service Animals

Under both Michigan law and the ADA, the definition of public accommodations is very broad. It includes:

• hotels and other lodging establishments
• public transportation and terminals, depots, and stations
• restaurants and other places that serve food and drink
• service establishments, like barbershops and doctor's offices
• gyms, bowling alleys, and other places of exercise or recreation
• libraries, museums, and other places where items are collected or displayed publicly
• educational institutions, and
• social service centers, like senior centers, homeless shelters, and food banks.

The ADA establishes a civil right to bring your service animal into a public accommodation. Michigan's service animal law is included in its penal code, which makes it a misdemeanor to deny you and your service animal access to public accommodations.

Rules for Your Service Animal

If the tasks your service animal performs for you aren't obvious, the public accommodation can ask you only two things:

• whether the animal is a service animal, and
• what tasks it does for you.

The facility can't do any of the following:

• ask about or require documentation of your disability
• require documentation of your animal's status or training, or
• require a demonstration of the tasks your animal does for you.

A public accommodation can ask that your service animal be removed from the premises if it isn't housebroken or it's out of control and you're not controlling it effectively. If this happens, you're still entitled to use the accommodation without your service animal. You can't be asked to remove your animal because others are allergic to or afraid of the animal.

Under the law, your service animal must be under your control and wearing a harness, leash, or other tether (unless your disability prevents you from using one or it would interfere with the animal's ability to do its job). A public accommodation can't isolate you from other customers, treat you differently, or charge you a fee because you use a service animal.

Service Animals and ESAs in Michigan Housing

Under the federal Fair Housing Act, landlords and housing facilities must allow "assistance animals," if necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. Under the law, assistance animals include both service dogs and emotional support animals. (Okla. Stat. tit. 41 § 113.2(A).)

Having an assistance animal in your home is considered a reasonable accommodation. If your lease or rental agreement includes a "no pets" provision, it doesn't apply to your assistance animal, if the animal can be accommodated without undue hardship to the landlord.

Federal rules allowing ESAs in housing. The federal Fair Housing Act requires housing facilities to allow an emotional support animal if having one is necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home.

To be protected by this provision, you must have a disability and a disability-related need for the animal. In other words, the animal must perform tasks or services for you or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability

What questions can a landlord ask? Unlike the ADA's public accommodations protections, FHA housing law allows a landlord to ask for certification of your need for the assistance animal, but only if it's not apparent. So, your landlord can ask for a letter from your health care provider verifying your need for an emotional support rabbit, but can't ask a blind tenant to prove the need for a guide dog.

Can the landlord charge more for an emotional support animal? Under the FHA, a housing provider can't charge you extra for having a service animal or emotional support animal (although you might have to pay for damage your animal causes). Your landlord can't ask you to pay a pet deposit or higher rent because of your assistance animal.

(Learn more about your housing rights at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including how to file a complaint.)