Hackensack Meridian Health Settles ADA Violation Case Over Service Animal Access

Settlement reached after allegations of denying service animal access at medical office; HMH to revise policies and pay damages.

NEW JERSEY - Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) has reached a settlement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to resolve allegations that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by prohibiting individuals with disabilities from bringing service animals to medical appointments, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

The agreement follows an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which found that HMH breached ADA regulations by refusing to allow a service animal into one of its medical offices. The issue arose from a complaint that Dr. Abigail Whetstone’s office, part of HMH, had barred a person with a disability from bringing their service animal to an appointment.

Under the ADA, public accommodations must provide reasonable modifications to policies and practices, ensuring that persons with disabilities who require service animals are allowed to bring those animals into such facilities. Furthermore, public accommodations cannot demand documentation or tags to prove that an animal is a service animal.

As part of the settlement, HMH has agreed to implement several corrective measures. These include revising its policies, practices, and procedures to accommodate the use of service animals by individuals with disabilities. HMH will also ensure that all employees at Dr. Whetstone’s office receive a hard copy of the updated service animal policy and undergo training on Title III’s service animal compliance. Additionally, HMH will compensate the complainant with damages.

Individuals who believe they may have experienced similar discrimination are encouraged to contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Hotline at (855) 281-3339 or file a complaint online at www.justice.gov/usao-nj/civil-rights-enforcement/complaint. More information on the ADA is available at www.ada.gov or by calling the Department of Justice’s toll-free information line at (800) 514-0301 or (800) 514-0383 (TDD).

The government’s case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Horan Florio, Senior Civil Rights Counsel in the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Division.