Can a rat be a “support animal”?

Yes. Given the broad definition of support animals, employers should not rule out any animal as a possible support animal — even if it is not an animal you would typically think of as one that may provide “support” to an employee.

Under both federal and California law, allowing employees with a disability to have assistive animals in the workplace may be a form of reasonable accommodation.

California law is much broader than federal law and defines “assistive animal” as “an animal that is necessary as a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability” (California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Section 11065(a)).

A support animal is one type of assistive animal; other types include guide dogs, signal dogs, and service dogs.

A “support animal” is an animal “that provides emotional, cognitive, or other similar support to a person with a disability, including, but not limited to, traumatic brain injuries or mental disabilities, such as major depression” (California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Section 11065(a)(D)).

Support animals are not limited to dogs — they can include any other animal that provides emotional, cognitive, or other support to an employee with a disability. Also, assistive animals, including support animals, no longer need to have any special training.

Requests from employees to bring assistive or support animals into the workplace should be handled the same way as any other requests for accommodation: employers should engage in a timely, good faith interactive process with the employee regarding the request for accommodation.

For more information, read Assistive Animals as an Accommodation in the HR Library.