Places of Public Accommodation Responsibilities Under the ADA
(Title III Provisions of the ADA)

Who is Covered by Title III of the ADA?

• Public accommodations (i.e., private entities that own, operate, lease, or lease to places of public accommodation),
• Commercial facilities, and
• Private entities that offer certain examinations and courses related to educational and occupational certification.

What are places of public accommodation?

Places of public accommodation include over five million private establishments, such as restaurants, hotels, theaters, convention centers, retail stores, shopping centers, dry cleaners, laundromats, pharmacies, doctors' offices, hospitals, museums, libraries, parks, zoos, amusement parks, private schools, day care centers, health spas, and bowling alleys.

What are commercial facilities?

Commercial facilities are nonresidential facilities, including office buildings, factories, and warehouses, whose operations affect commerce.

Commercial facilities are only required to follow to ADA Accessibility Guidelines on new construction and alterations. Other requirements for public accommodations do not apply to commercial facilities.

Are any private entites not covered by Title III of the ADA?

Entities controlled by religious organizations, including places of worship, are not covered.

Private clubs are not covered, except to the extent that the facilities of the private club are made available to customers or patrons of a place of public accommodation.

What are places of public accommodation (businesses) required to do under the ADA?

Public accommodations must:

• Provide goods and services in an integrated setting, unless separate or different measures are necessary to ensure equal opportunity.
  
  
• Eliminate unnecessary eligibility standards or rules that deny individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to enjoy the goods and services of a place of public accommodation.
  
  
• Make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures that deny equal access to individuals with disabilities, unless doing so would cause a fundamental alteration in the nature of the goods and services provided.
  
  
• Furnish auxiliary aids, when necessary, to ensure effective communication, unless doing so would cause an undue burden to the business or fundamental alteration in the nature of goods and services.
  
  
• Remove architectural and structural communication barriers in existing facilities, where readily achievable.
  
  
• Provide alternative measures when removal of barriers is not readily achievable.
  
  
• Provide equivalent transportation services and purchase accessible vehicles in certain circumstances.
  
  
• Maintain accessibility of facilities and equipment.
  
  
• Design and construct new facilities that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines. Alterations must also comply with ADA Accessiblity Guidelines.
  
  
• A public accommodation may not discriminate against an individual or entity because of association with a person with a disability.
  
  
• Private entities offering certain examinations or courses (i.e., those related to applications, licensing, certification, or credentialing for secondary or postsecondary education, professional, or trade purposes) must offer them in an accessible place and manner or offer alternative accessible arrangements.

Are there limitations on what businesses must provide for customers with disabilities?

A business is not required to provide personal devices such as wheelchairs; individually prescribed devices (e.g., prescription eyeglasses or hearing aids); or services of a personal nature including assistance in eating or dressing.

Providing Equal Access to Goods and Services

A public accommodation may not use eligibility requirements that exclude or segregate individuals with disabilities--unless the requirements are necessary for the operation of the public accommodation.
Example: Excluding individuals with cerebral palsy from a movie theater or restricting individuals with Down's Syndrome to only certain areas of a restaurant would violate the regulation.

• Requirements that tend to screen out individuals with disabilities, such as requiring a blind person to produce a driver's license as the sole means of identification for cashing a check, are also prohibited.
  
  
• Safety requirements may be imposed only if they are necessary for the safe operation of a place of public accommodation. They must be based on actual risks and not on mere speculation, stereotypes, or generalizations about individuals with disabilities. Example: An amusement park may impose height requirements for certain rides when required for safety.
  
  
• Extra charges may not be imposed on individuals with disabilities to cover the costs such as removing barriers or providing qualified interpreters.

Modifications in Policies, Practices, and Procedures

A public accommodation must make reasonable modifications in its policies, practices, and procedures in order to accommodate individuals with disabilities.

• A modification is not required if it would "fundamentally alter" the goods, services, or operations of the public accommodation.
  For example, a department store may need to modify a policy of only permitting one person at a time in a dressing room if an individual with mental retardation needs the assistance of a companion in dressing.
  
  
• Modifications in existing practices generally must be made to permit the use of guide dogs and other service animals.

Specialists are not required to provide services outside of their legitimate areas of specialization.
For example, a doctor who specializes exclusively in burn treatment may refer an individual with a disability, who is not seeking burn treatment, to another provider. A burn specialist, however, could not refuse to provide burn treatment to, for example, an individual with HIV disease.

Auxiliary Aids

A public accommodation must provide auxiliary aids and services when they are necessary to ensure effective communication with individuals with hearing, vision, or speech impairments.

• "Auxiliary aids" include such services or devices as qualified interpreters, assistive listening headsets, television captioning and decoders, telecommunications devices for deaf persons (TDD's), videotext displays, readers, taped texts, brailled materials, and large print materials.
  
  
• The auxiliary aid requirement is flexible. For example, a brailled menu is not required, if waiters are instructed to read the menu to blind customers.
  
  
• Auxiliary aids that would result in an undue burden, (i.e., "significant difficulty or expense") or in a fundamental alteration in the nature of the goods or services are not required by the ADA. However, a public accommodation must still furnish another type of auxiliary aid, if available, that does not result in a fundamental alteration or an undue burden.

Existing Facilities: Removal of Barriers

Physical barriers to entering and using existing facilities must be removed when "readily achievable."

Readily achievable means "easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense."

Readily achievable is determined on a case-by-case basis in light of the resources available.
The regulation does not require the rearrangement of temporary or movable structures, such as furniture, equipment, and display racks to the extent that it would result in a significant loss of selling or serving space.

Legitimate safety requirements may be considered in determining what is readily achievable so long as they are based on actual risks and are necessary for safe operation.
Examples of barrier removal measures include --

• Installing ramps,
• Making curb cuts at sidewalks and entrances,
• Rearranging tables, chairs, vending machines, display racks, and other furniture,
• Widening doorways,
• Installing grab bars in toilet stalls, and
• Adding raised letters or braille to elevator control buttons.

First priority should be given to measures that will enable individuals with disabilities to "get in the front door," followed by measures to provide access to areas providing goods and services.

Barrier removal measures must comply, when readily achievable, with the alterations requirements of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines. If compliance with the Guidelines is not readily achievable, other safe, readily achievable measures must be taken, such as installation of a slightly narrower door than would be required by the Guidelines.

Existing Facilities: Alternatives to Barrier Removal

The ADA requires the removal of physical barriers, such as stairs, if it is "readily achievable." However, if removal is not readily achievable, alternative steps must be taken to make goods and services accessible.

Examples of alternative measures include --

• Providing goods and services at the door, sidewalk, or curb
• Providing home delivery,
• Retrieving merchandise from inaccessible shelves or racks,
• Relocating activities to accessible locations.

Extra charges may not be imposed on individuals with disabilities to cover the costs of measures used as alternatives to barrier removal. For example, a restaurant may not charge a wheelchair user extra for home delivery when it is provided as the alternative to barrier removal.

New Construction
All newly constructed places of public accommodation and commercial facilities must meet the ADA architectural standards for accessibility incorporated in to the Dept. of Justice Title III regulations to individuals with disabilities unless it is " structurally impracticable".

Full compliance will be considered "structurally impracticable" only in those rare circumstances when the unique characteristics of terrain prevent the incorporation of accessibility features (e.g., marshland that requires construction on stilts).

Alterations
Alterations to places of public accommodation and commercial facilities must be in compliance with ADA architectural standards for accessibility.

An alteration is a change that affects usability of a facility. For example, if during remodeling, renovation, or restoration, a doorway is being relocated, the new doorway must be wide enough to meet the requirements of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines.

When alterations are made to a "primary function area", such as the lobby or work areas of a bank, an accessible path of travel to the altered area, and the bathrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving that area, must be made accessible to the extent that the added accessibility costs are not disproportionate to the overall cost of the original alteration.

Alterations to windows, hardware, controls, electrical outlets, and signage in primary function areas do not trigger the path of travel requirement.

Twenty Percent Rule
The added accessibility costs are disproportionate if they exceed 20 percent of the original alteration.
Elevators are not required in facilities under three stories or with fewer than 3,000 square feet per floor, unless the building is a shopping center, shopping mall, professional office of a health care provider, or station used for public transportation.