Types of Clients Under the ADA
Editorial paper not for legal precedence

One of the difficulties of the ADA is with understanding who is covered and by which rules.

Always remember, the ADA is a civil rights law and that in reading these articles we are talking about citizens’ rights of access to the built environment and who is responsible to protect those rights. Current interpretations indicate that it is our client’s obligation to their clientele that we are serving when we interpret the ADA’s application to a project. However, the jury is still out on the question of whether an architect can be held accountable to the consumer for the failure of an Owner to “design and construct” within the constraints of the ADA, more on that in a later article.

To understand the application of the ADA to a project, you first need to know who the client is.

Types of Clients under the ADA
Titles II and III of the ADA law segregate clients into two, mutually exclusive, classes; basically public and private. These classes are further sub-divided by the Law. Title II clients are state and local governments, their departments and instrumentalities. Title III clients are private sector entities whose activities affect commerce but are not operated for use as the primary residence of the occupants.

The definitions of Title II and Title III entities are mutually exclusive. No entity can be both. Public-private partnerships, and private non-profit organizations that obtain significant funding from governmental programs can cause isolated cases of double coverage; but our clients are either a Title II entity, a Title III entity, or they are exempt.

Title II
Public (in the traditional “supported by tax dollars” definition) sector clients, except for the Federal government, are Title II clients. Title II entities are further divided in Public Service Providers and Public Transportation Providers. These distinctions allow for different extrapolations of the Program Accessibility rule and for different time-tables for compliance that are appropriate to the distinctions between land/facility based services and “fleet” based services. Title II entities include the following:

• Public schools and universities
• State and county judicial and detention facilities
• Public libraries
• City and County Halls
• State Office Buildings

• privately owned, open to the public places serving food or drink
• privately owned, open to the public places of assembly for entertainment
• privately owned, open to the public places of assembly for public gathering
• privately owned, open to the public places of sales or rental
• privately owned, open to the public places of professional or other service
• privately owned, open to the public places of assembly for access to transportation
• privately owned, open to the public places of public display or exhibition
• privately owned, open to the public places of outdoor recreation
• privately owned, open to the public places of education
• privately owned, open to the public places of social service
• privately owned, open to the public places of indoor exercise or recreation

Exempt
Although the following entities are exempt from the ADA they are not necessarily exempt from constructing accessible environments. Most are prohibited from discrimination on the basis of disability by other Laws. When that test fails, they are not exempt from local codes and ordinances affecting building design and construction.

The Federal Government is exempt from the ADA because its activities are regulated by other Laws that have similar effect.

Housing (single and multi-family primary residence housing) is exempt because it is regulated by the Fair Housing Act and amendments.

Air Carriers are exempt, because they and their facilities are covered by the 1976 Air Carriers Act. Private Clubs (exclusive-membership organizations that predate the ’64 C.R. Act) are exempt, because they were exempt under the ’64 Civil Rights Act, and Religious organizations are exempt.

Title I
In our practice, our clients are also covered by Title I as employers, however, we will seldom be involved in Title I issues. Employers are entities (both public and private) that have 15 or more employees. I have not, in my three years with Ellerbe, encountered a client with fewer than 15 (FTE) employees. Under Title I, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations to the known needs of a qualified employee with a disability. There are no design standards for Title I. Each accommodation, is a case-by-case analysis regarding what is required to permit the qualified individual to be successful in his/her position at that site.

Knowing these client classifications is the first step in understanding the applicability of the ADA’s rules. Next time I’ll discuss how the applicable rules change based on these classifications and other program issues.

Caveat
As you can see a large number of clients are not covered by the ADA. To design for exempt clients and Title II clients (and as we’ll see next time) using the ADA’s Title III Standards for Accessible Design without a clear, (preferably written) statement that this is the client’s direction can put us at some risk.

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