Good Job: My coworker’s emotional support animal is causing me emotional distress!

[minoanmiss]

Dear Good Job,

One of my colleagues brings an untrained emotional support animal to the office. It barked at me in the elevator and the restroom. It has barked at others in the conference room. When I advised HR, the pet owner doubled down and officially declared medical need and qualified dog as emotional support animal. HR accepted and allowed the situation. While maybe it is an Emotional Support Animal, it is clearly not trained. And although the report was allegedly anonymous, I am sure everyone suspects it was me. Am I the asshole? Is there anything else to do? In my mind I already hear you say hold my nose and do my work.

—In the Dog House

Dear In the Dog House,

As a dog owner myself, I can assure you that the last thing I would tell you to do is hold your nose and do your work! When I first got my dog, I was working in an office that allowed dogs, and several people did indeed bring their dogs to work. I tried to bring mine one day and it wasn’t a total disaster, but I also wouldn’t say it went well, exactly. My vision of him lying calmly at my feet as I worked on my computer dissipated really quickly—he barked, he was restless, and overall just seemed miserable. This is the vibe I’m getting from what you’re describing here, too. This dog seems STRESSED! It may be providing emotional support to its owner, but who’s providing emotional support to the dog? All this to say, you are not the asshole.

Now, onto what to do about it. According to the Job Accommodation Network, which provides support for employees and workplaces about ADA accommodations, there are no guidelines in the ADA about Emotional Support Animals, and as such, they should be treated like any other request for accommodation—which includes making sure that the ESA is “trained to be in a work environment and will be under the employee’s control at all times.” From what you’ve said, this very much does not appear to be the case, and your employer would be well within their rights to not allow this particular ESA in the office.

I would start documenting every instance of this dog being disruptive in the office, especially if it directly interfered with your ability to do your work. Then I would go back to HR with this information from the JAN as well as your documentation, and insist that they do something about the dog. It’s unfair to you and the rest of the office that this is allowed to go on.

Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir want to help you navigate your social dynamics at work. Does your colleague constantly bug you after hours? Has an ill-advised work romance gone awry? Ask us your question here! (It’s anonymous!)

Comments

[katiedid717]

People who think their ESA deserves the same rights as an actual service dog are the worst. Leave your pet (because at the end of the day, that's really what it is) at home.

[rachelkg]

Emotional Support Animals are mostly protected in housing (at least on a national level), and even service animals can be excluded from a business if they're repeatedly barking or otherwise not under the handler's control.

[katiedid717]

Yup - ESAs are protected under the Fair Housing Act, not the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are still cases where a landlord can deny someone's ESA, mainly if there's lack of proper documentation, if the ESA provides a threat to others, if the ESA is an exotic animal, or if the ESA would cause "undue financial or administrative burden" - my property experience is entirely in Connecticut, but I know that within the state there are also exceptions to Fair Housing law if the building has no more than four units AND the owner lives in one of them, but I've been out of the residential rental game for a few years so my knowledge there has lapsed a bit.

[full_metal_ox]

minoanmiss: Off-topic, but your juxtaposition of that icon with the topic is hilarious.

[minoanmiss]

I admit to doing that on purpose. ;)

[full_metal_ox]

I’m suddenly reminded of Juju from Disney’s Princess and the Frog: an actual service snake and the Best Familiar Ever.

[lokifan]

heeee

[jadelennox]

I would like to move to a world where we could require documentation of training for service animals, and where there's restrictions around laws protecting ESAs. I'm sure the service animal groups have good reasons for being opposed—and I'm probably wrong!—but people can be so abusive of the system ESA claims, and the general public is so ignorant of the difference between service animals and ESA, that I'm convinced the legal backlash against legit service animals is coming real soon now.

Among other things, animals in the workplace can be a real cause of conflicting access needs, so a workplace shouldn't just say "oh she said ESA so our hands are tied!"

I know it's messy and we'd have to expand the legal definition of service animal (in the US, currently only dogs and miniature horses), so, like, a monkey that brings you your meds or a seizure-detecting cat or whatever wouldn't currently qualify. I know that system would be gamed as well; there are already assholes who sell fake guide dog vests on amazon. I know we can't just rules-change our way into a better world.

But I can want to.

[full_metal_ox]

I know it's messy and we'd have to expand the legal definition of service animal (in the US, currently only dogs and miniature horses), so, like, a monkey that brings you your meds or a seizure-detecting cat or whatever wouldn't currently qualify.

Or Hero Rats (usually African pouched rats), who can be taught to detect disease symptoms and fetch things, making them potential personal service animals (although in Alberta, Canada they’d still be mures non grati, full stop.)

Just gonna leave this here.

[full_metal_ox]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xjGt5cZXR1o