Portable Sanitation Association International

Association Insight May 16 2018

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WEEKLY EDITION MAY 16, 2018 Dealing with Customers You Don't Want to Serve…continued By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director According to publicly available information, the portable restroom company agreed to provide the unit, had units available, took credit card information, and agreed to deliver the unit the morning of July 7, 2016. A little after 9:00 that day the portable restroom company called the contact for delivery directions. During the course of the conversation the company representative learned that the unit was for the protesters. At that point the portable restroom company denied service and stated they did not want their name associated with the protest. Since then, this story has been all over the news – and not in a good way. In light of this, we thought now would be a good time to review when any business can deny service to a customer. I can decide who I want to serve, right? Yes and no. In general no company – regardless of the industry - can deny service on the basis of anything that is protected by law. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed "equal protection under the law," and the 1964 Federal Civil Rights Act guaranteed all people the legal right to "full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin." Since 1964 new legislation and court cases have added to the list of specifically protected classes and now many additional groups are included. See the information on page 6 for a complete list of protected classes. This means – regardless of your personal feelings – you cannot deny service based on these protected circumstances. You can deny service for other reasons – but more on that in a minute. Why deny service? Some companies may wonder why anyone would ever turn away a paying customer. Others may do so regularly for a variety of reasons. To each his own, as the saying goes. You may recall, in fact, that the PSAI's Code of Excellence for the portable sanitation industry actually states, "We respectfully decline to provide service in circumstances where a customer may steadfastly insist on an arrangement that is not in conformity with standards, may pose a health or safety risk, or would tend to promote conditions in which the reputation of our company or industry would be negatively affected." As the situation in Kentucky shows, real life situations can make it challenging to determine when you should – or can – deny service. Some reasons for denying service are entirely legal and represent good business decisions. Others may make sense from a certain perspective, but won't hold up to closer scrutiny. PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

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