Emotional support animals (ESA) are some of the most valuable companions around, and these animals can be any species and any age or size. Your ESA provides benefits to your mental healthcare plan by providing you with comfort, support, and companionship throughout your day, offering your relief from certain symptoms of your mental health condition.
If you have an ESA or if you’re considering adding an ESA to your treatment plan, it’s important to understand emotional support animal laws in Georgia and how they might affect you. We give you an overview of your ESA rights in Georgia below so you know how your animal companion is treated in the state.
What Is an Emotional Support Animal in Georgia?
It is important to differentiate between service dogs and emotional support animals, as these companion animals have different legal protections.
A service animal is typically a dog, or sometimes a miniature horse, trained with a specific disability-related purpose, such as visual guiding, allergy detection, and diabetic or medical alert.
An emotional support animal is any legally owned animal in Georgia that provides emotional support to their owner through their presence. It is worth mentioning that emotional support animals can include a wide range of pets, from canines to cats to reptiles. So, while we typically think of dogs in this position, many animals can accomplish the task if they bring their owner comfort and joy.
Because of their different role in an owner’s life, emotional support animals are not given the same privileges as service animals. ESAs do not have the same public access rights, and the main protected right of ESAs in Georgia is your companion’s right to live alongside you in any suitable area of housing.
What Are the Benefits of Emotional Support Animals?
Emotional support animals provide many benefits to their owners, and any individual with a mental health condition or disability can benefit from the addition of an ESA into their life. Generally, conditions like anxiety, depression, stress disorders, and conditions like OCD benefit greatly from the addition of an ESA into the owner’s treatment plan.
Below, we discuss some specific ways that an emotional support animal in Georgia can positively impact your life.
1. Increased Activity and Responsibility
Those who have had the misfortune of going through a period of depression know just how good it is at keeping us from getting out of bed in the morning. Considering that around 280 million people are estimated to have depression, having a treatment that gets people out of the house and fulfilling daily responsibilities is a massive asset.
Having an emotional service dog will require individuals to exercise the animal, feed it, and physically and mentally interact with it. These small tasks throughout the day start to build a body of beneficial habits and gently push people to make more positive and productive decisions.
2. Socializing Without Anxiety
For those who grow anxious in social settings, dogs and other animals create a judgment-free relationship for people to express themselves without self-doubt. They are great for folks who overthink their interactions and stress about extroverted activities. An ESA is an excellent introductory step towards improving comfort with socializing.
3. Positive Areas of Focus
An emotional support animal requires care and attention. For owners, this dependency can help those suffering from mental ailments focus on a more positive area of life, bring a sense of routine, and provide a distraction from negative thoughts or feelings.
Georgia Laws On Emotional Support Animals
Georgia upholds federal laws when it comes to emotional support animal and service animal rights in the state. It’s important to understand the laws that apply to your ESA so you know exactly what your rights are once you have a valid ESA in your care.
Georgia Housing Laws for Emotional Support Animals
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) prevents discrimination against individuals during the process of purchasing, renting, and selling housing. This act makes it unlawful to prevent someone from bringing their emotional support or service animal into their home, as these animals are considered a treatment for mental health conditions or support for other disabilities
If you want to access housing accommodations with your emotional support animal, you will need to present an ESA letter signed by a Georgia-licensed mental healthcare professional (LMHP).
You will need to show your ESA letter to your landlord when moving, and you will be permitted to move into pet-restricted or breed-restricted buildings with this letter. You are also excused from paying for pet fees, pet rent, and other pet-related fees with a valid ESA.
Unfortunately, not every type of housing situation is covered by the FHA’s regulations. Hotels, buildings with four units or less, and single-family homes sold without a real estate agent are not covered by the Fair Housing Act. If traveling or moving into unique circumstances, you may have to adjust your plans to accommodate your emotional support animal.
Landlords can also deny your request if it directly endangers the health of other tenants, results in unmanageable financial strain, or would cause significant damage to the property. They may also reject the request if it sincerely changes the identity of the place you are planning to live in.
Landlords are not permitted to question you regarding your disability unless you specifically ask about disability accommodation options. They cannot inquire into why you need an emotional support animal; the only document you will need to show is your ESA letter.
Georgia Emotional Support Animal Travel Laws
In compliance with the federal Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), Georgia has made it mandatory for airlines to accept service dogs into an airplane’s cabin without charging the owner pet fees. This acceptance does not transfer over to emotional support animals, which aren’t considered service animals by airlines.
As of 2020, airlines are permitted to treat ESAs as pets when you wish to bring them on a flight with you. This means that you may need to follow airline pet restrictions, and your animal may not be permitted in an airline’s cabin on certain flights. You will also likely need to pay pet fees and register your animal for flying ahead of time.
Make sure to contact the airline you are interested in booking with directly to enquire about any pet rules and ESA restrictions that might be in place.
Georgia Emotional Support Animal Workplace Laws
In general, there are no laws protecting someone’s right to take their emotional support animal to their job site. Only service animals, protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), are able to access the workplace alongside their owners.
This does not mean employers cannot accommodate workers who wish to bring their animals to work. However, accommodations are not guaranteed, and the employer will have the final say on ESA accommodations. It’s important to note that a workplace must be safe for an ESA to enter, in addition to the ESA not presenting a significant health or safety risk to others in the workplace.
Georgia Emotional Support Animal Public Access Laws
Similar to workplace access laws in Georgia, an emotional support animal’s ability to access public spaces is documented under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The law states that while service animals can go into most public spaces with their owner, emotional support animals are not guaranteed entry.
Whether an emotional support dog can enter an area depends on the business owner and what they permit in their establishment. Some owners may be more accommodating to ESAs, but calling ahead is advised.
How to Get an ESA Letter in Georgia
Emotional support animals are a great asset to many people, and these companions have certain protected rights due to the benefits they bring to their owners. In order to access these rights in Georgia, you will need an ESA letter written by a mental healthcare provider licensed in the state.
Start this process by making an appointment with your provider and discussing your concerns. If you don’t currently have a mental healthcare professional in Georgia, simply fill out our ESA consultation form. A mental health professional licensed in Georgia will reach out to you and complete your evaluation.
During your appointment, your provider will evaluate your need and ability to properly care for your chosen ESA. If you are approved, your provider will write you an official ESA letter.
You can then use this letter to access your protected ESA housing rights and live alongside your companion animal anywhere in Georgia.
Wrapping Up Georgia Emotional Support Animal Laws
ESAs are wonderful companions who can add so much to someone’s life, though the legalities of them can be tricky. If you think that an ESA would improve your quality of life, reach out to a mental health professional to start the process of getting an ESA letter.