Resort Worker Advances Suit Over Service Dog in Employer Housing

A Utah resort must face a diabetic employee’s claims that it didn’t accommodate and fired him over his need for a service dog while staying in employer-providing lodging, a federal judge ruled.

Forbidding the use at work or in housing of animals that help with a disability is a frequently litigated issue and one lawyers and advocates advise carries risks of liability. Jacob O’Connor’s lawsuit against Collett’s Mountain Resorts Inc., doing business as Flaming Gorge Resort, is unusual in that it involves claims under both job and hosing discrimination laws.

O’Connor’s allegations that Collett’s denied him a reasonable job accommodation ...