Code of Maryland Regulations › Title 14 - INDEPENDENT AGENCIES › Subtitle 03 - COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS › Chapter 14.03.02 - Anti-Discrimination Relating to Persons with Disabilities › Section 14.03.02.09 - Public Accommodations Practices

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 14, July 12, 2024
A. Unlawful Practices in Public
				Accommodations Generally. An owner, operator, manager, or lessor of a place of
				public accommodation may not discriminate on the basis of disability against an
				individual in the full and equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities,
				privileges, advantages, or accommodations.
B. Unlawful Practices in Public
				Accommodations Specifically.
(1) Unlawful
				Denial of Participation. An owner, operator, manager, or lessor of a place of
				public accommodation may not deny an individual with a disability, directly or
				indirectly, or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, the
				opportunity to participate in, or benefit from, a good, service, facility,
				privilege, advantage, or accommodation of a place of public
				accommodation.
(2) Unequal
				Participation. An owner, operator, manager, or lessor of a place of public
				accommodation may not deny an individual with a disability, directly or
				indirectly, or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, the
				opportunity to participate in, or benefit from, a good, service, facility,
				privilege, advantage, or accommodation of a place of public accommodation that
				is equal to that afforded to an individual without a disability.
(3) Separate Benefit. A public accommodation
				may provide separate benefits for individuals with disabilities only if
				requiring that individuals with disabilities be provided the same benefits as
				provided to individuals without disabilities would in effect create a barrier
				to full accessibility for the individual with a disability.
(4) Examples of when a public accommodation
				is permitted to provide a separate benefit include, but are not limited to:
(a) An athletic club which may provide a
				separate basketball league for wheelchair users, because integrating wheelchair
				users with nondisabled persons in the same game would create a barrier to full
				accessibility for the wheelchair users; and
(b) A museum which may provide a separate
				benefit to blind visitors through a separate tour in which they touch objects
				because the general rule that prohibits touching would create a barrier to full
				accessibility for blind visitors.
(5) The example in §B(4)(b) of this
				regulation may not be construed to deny blind visitors the right to go on the
				standard tour observing the general rules applicable to all visitors.
(6) Eligibility Criteria. An owner, operator,
				manager, or lessor of a place of public accommodation may not impose, or apply
				eligibility criteria, that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with
				a disability from fully and equally participating in a good, service, facility,
				privilege, advantage, or accommodation, unless this criteria can be shown to be
				necessary for the provision of the good, service, facility, privilege,
				advantage, or accommodation.
(7)
				Surcharge. An owner, operator, manager, or lessor of a place of public
				accommodation may not impose a surcharge on an individual with a disability to
				cover the costs of complying with State Government Article, §§
										20-301"20-305,
				Annotated Code of Maryland.