How to Get Your Emotional Support Animal in West Virginia Certified

West Virginia’s White Cane (disability) Law has a very broad definition of public accommodations. It includes highways, roads, streets, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, public facilities, and other public places, as well as all modes of transportation, hotels, lodging places, restaurants, professional offices for health and legal services, hospitals, other places of public accommodation, amusement, or resort, and other places (including places of employment) to which the general public is invited. The ADA’s list of qualified public accommodations is similarly broad.

A public accommodation may only ask two questions if it is not apparent what the service animal does: whether the animal is a service animal and what task(s) it performs.

The ADA allows a public accommodation to remove or exclude a service animal from the premises if the animal is not housebrokeen or is out of control and causing a direct threat to other patrons in the establishment. The handler may still enter the premises without the animal should they so choose.

Public transportation and all common carriers including airplanes, motor vehcles, trains, buses, streetcars, and boats fall under the umbrella of protected public accommodations for disabled individuals with service animals.

Generally employees may request the use of a service animal on the job as a reasonable accommodation from their employer. Employers must then evaluate the request and may approve or deny it depending on whether the presence of the animal will cause undue financial hardship or change the fundamental nature of the business.

No. West Virginia law specifically states that service animals are not required to be licensed or certified by a state or local government, and they do not require specific signage or labeling as a service animal. However, service animals should be under control via a leash or harness (or via verbal commands if such devices would interfere with the animal doing its job).

Yes, hospitals fall under the category of qualified public accommodations. Generally service animals are allowed in any area of a healthcare facility open to the public, such as clinic waiting areas or patient rooms. They may, however, be barred from entering areas where the animal’s presence could compromise sterility, such as operating rooms or burn units.

Yes. Per West Virginia law, any person, firm, or corporation who denies or interferes with entry to a public accommodation for a disabled individual is guilty of a misdemeanor. If convicted, they will be fined up to $50.

West Virginia follows the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which defines a service animal as a dog (regardless of breed or size) trained to do work or perform tasks to assist a qualified individual with a diability, and may include psychiatric service dogs. Minature horses are excluded in this definition.

Airlines can require a passenger to provide a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) form attesting to the animal’s health, behavior, and training and a U.S. DOT form attesting that the animal can either not relieve itself or can relieve itself in a sanitary manner (if the animal will be on a flight that is 8 or more hours).

The ACAA does not address service animals in-training, so airlines are not required to carry them as they do not meet the requirements of an ACAA-defined service animal. However, airlines can make their own individual policies.