Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/983171
W EEKLY EDITION MAY 16, 2018 Dealing with Customers You Don't Want to Serve …continued By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director Testing the right to refuse . Start by asking yourself two question s when faced with a customer or request you don't want to serve. • In my heart of hearts, is the reason I don't want to serve this customer connected to anything that is protected by law? • Would I refuse to serve ANY customer that is asking for the same thin g(s) in the same way – and can I prove that is true? Regardless of your answer to the first question, you must be able to answer "yes" to the second question. Even if you don't think you are denying service for a reason that is protected, all it takes is an unhappy potential customer who believes that was the case and your company will be in hot water. If that happens, you will need to be able to justify your decision on the basis of some criterion that was not discriminatory. When it is okay to deny serv ice. You can deny service on an equal basis – meaning that you wouldn't serve anybody who made a similar request in a broad, generic way. • Denial on the basis of service type. You can refuse to provide a certain type of service for all customers. For exa mple, you can refuse to provide portable units for a same sex wedding (protected) or the wedding of people of a religion you don't like (also protected) if you don't provide units for any type of wedding. You cannot refuse to serve only weddings with which you disagree. • Denial due to distance. You can refuse to provide units if doing so would be outside your service area. Be sure to clearly articulate your service area in writing and go over it with potential customers. That way if someone of another faith is getting married 75 miles from your yard and you only serve a 50 - mile radius you can easily support your "no" decision. Of course, it's important that you don't actually have any units outside your stated service area for this to be a credible justifica tion. • Denial to comply with a law or standard. You can refuse to provide service if the customer is asking you to break a law or published standard. If the customer's location requires you to drive trucks on a road with weight limits you can't meet, it's okay to say "no." If they don't want to get enough ADA units for an event requiring public accommodation, ditto. You can even refuse to provide fewer units than are required by published OSHA standards (which have the force of law) or PSAI/ANSI standards ( which do not have the force of law) provided you consistently adhere to those standards for all your customers. P AGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4