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Pennsylvania Public Accommodation

July 28th, 2006 Posted by Nicole

I was reading around on some law-talk chat forums recently when I came across a post that got me particularly interested. The post was about the Pennsylvania Public Accommodations Provision. This is not something that most states have within their sets of laws, so I think it’s worth a blog.

Basically, the Public Accommodations Provisions states that a public accommodation is a literal accommodation that is open, accepts or solicits the patronage of the public, which includes the government agencies. Basically, it is any establishment that opens its doors to the public, such as a restaurant, theater or store.

Under the terms of the Act, it is illegal for any owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any public accommodation to discriminate against any person in the full use and enjoyment of the public facility on the basis of the patron’s race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, known association with a person with a disability, use of a guide or support animal due to blindness, deafness or physical inability because the user is a handler or trainer of such animals.

It is required that this notice is posted in the facility by an owner, lessee, proprietor or manager of the public accommodation. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission does monitor these posts to ensure that they are enacted and in place in a visible spot within the store. The notice must be placed where they can readily be seen by those seeking or granting any of the accommodations. It is illegal to tamper with or remove these notices of public accommodation.

In the event that a patron feels that he or she has been discriminated against in the public accommodation, the patron must file a complaint within 180 days of the alleged discrimination. The complaint must be filed with the Human Relationships Commission or with the Pennsylvania General Attorney.

The full details of the public accommadation laws are reflected on the Pennsylvania Complete Labor Law poster.