Assistance dogs and emotional support animals in the workplace
With more employees seeking support for physical and mental health conditions at work, HR professionals are increasingly being asked about animals in the workplace. In particular, it is important to understand the distinction between assistance dogs and emotional support animals.
Assistance dogs
In the UK, assistance dogs are trained to support individuals with disabilities, enabling them to carry out day-to-day activities that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. This might include guiding someone with a visual impairment, alerting a person to sounds, or assisting individuals with mobility or medical conditions. They need to be considered separately to ‘emotional support dogs’ (see below).
Assistance dogs are defined in s173 Equality Act 2010 as a dog which has been trained to guide a blind or deaf person, or which has been trained by a prescribed charity to assist a disabled person whose disability affects mobility or dexterity, or a dog which has been trained to assist a disabled person who has another issue of a prescribed kind. However, this definition only applies to a part of the Act which relates to carriage in taxis. There is also no definition of ‘prescribed charity’. All very unhelpful!
Under the Equality Act 2010, employers are under a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people which avoid a disabled employee being placed at a substantial disadvantage at work. Reasonable adjustments specifically include the provision of auxiliary aids. In many cases, this will include being accompanied by an assistance dog. Employers should therefore approach any request involving an assistance dog with the expectation that allowing the dog into the workplace will usually be reasonable, unless there is a very strong justification for refusal. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Code of Practice makes clear, they would be expected to make any other associated adjustments, such as providing training for colleagues about how to interact with the dog if this was reasonably required.
Importantly, assistance dogs are not simply pets. They are usually highly trained working animals. They are typically well-behaved, remain calm in busy environments, and are trained not to be distracted.
In practice, you may be able to identify an assistance dog by its behaviour and, often, by visible indicators such as a harness, jacket, or lead slip. However, employers should be cautious about relying solely on visual cues or requesting unnecessary proof. The focus should remain on the employee’s needs and the employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments.
Emotional support animals: a developing area
By contrast, emotional support animals (ESAs) do not have any legal recognition in the UK. These animals are not required to undergo specific training, which means they are inherently more tricky to deal with. The employer, in considering requests for ESA presence in the workplace, has to carefully consider what reasonable requirements in terms of behaviour, cleanliness and training they will require before approving it.
They cover all animals, and are not limited to dogs. Cats, spiders, snakes, birds (and any other animal for that matter) could be brought forward as a potential ESA.
There is no legal right for an employee to bring an ESA into the workplace and ESAs have no formal legal status.
However, that is not the end of the story. Where an employee has a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 the duty to make reasonable adjustments will still apply and potentially bring with it an obligation to allow an ESA into the workplace to assist an employee in carrying-out their role.
This will always be a fact-specific assessment. Employers should consider the effectiveness of the adjustment, its practicality, the impact on the business, and whether there are alternative adjustments that could achieve a similar outcome.
Requests involving emotional support animals should therefore be approached carefully, with an open mind but without assuming that they must be granted.
Balancing competing needs in the workplace
Whether dealing with assistance dogs or emotional support animals, employers must also consider the impact on the wider workforce.
Introducing an animal into the workplace can give rise to legitimate concerns. Some employees may have allergies, while others may have phobias or cultural objections to certain animals. These factors should not be dismissed and must be weighed as part of the overall decision-making process.
A structured risk assessment is a sensible step. This should consider issues such as:
- hygiene
- workspace layout
- health and safety
- shared areas, and
- any adjustments needed to accommodate colleagues who may be adversely affected.
In some cases, simple measures – such as designated areas, air filtration, or flexible working arrangements – may help to balance competing needs.
A practical and thoughtful approach
Ultimately, requests involving animals in the workplace require a careful, case-by-case approach. Assistance dogs will, in most circumstances, need to be accommodated as part of an employer’s legal obligations. Emotional support animals, while not legally recognised in the same way, should still be considered through the lens of reasonable adjustments where a disability is involved.