A video going viral on YouTube shows a worker at a Subway restaurant in Lakewood telling a man he couldn't bring his service dog inside without documentation.
"Show me the proof and he can come in here," the worker can be seen saying. "Show me the paper, show me the proof, sir...[because] if not, I'm going to have to ask your dog to get out."
The man made clear to the employee that what she was doing was against the law, but she disputed his claims. Turns out, we spoke to an attorney on the matter and discovered the man was right.
"The business doesn't have the right to ask for papers," Richard Selby told us. "They can ask for, basically, two questions: Do you have the dog because of a disability, and what tasks has the dog been trained to perform?"
Selby admits the woman "crossed a line," but the second part of his answer could make things a little trickier from the owner's perspective. It is unclear if he was asked those specific questions. If he was, and refused to answer them, Selby says the store would be within its rights to ask him and the dog to leave. A service dog can also be removed for being disruptive or causing problems.
WKYC did go to the Subway to talk to the owner, and while they did not want to go on camera, they did say they have now printed out the laws regarding service animals and the questions that can be asked for employees to reference. The franchise also released the following statement:
"Service animals are always allowed in all Subway® restaurants. As the owners of the restaurant, we reached out to the guest and offered an apology for any inconvenience this may have caused. We also took this opportunity to reiterate our policy with the staff to ensure this does not happen again."
The employee herself also commented on the customer's video, apologizing for her actions and saying she was "uneducated" regarding what to do in that situation. Channel 3 was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach the owner of the dog who posted the video.