Restroom access - retail establishments - liability - penalty - short title - definitions

(1) This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Restroom Access Act". (2) As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) "Customer" means an individual who is lawfully on the premises of a retail establishment. (b) "Eligible medical condition" means Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, any other inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediate access to a toilet facility. (c) "Retail establishment" means a place of business open to the general public for the sale of goods or services. "Retail establishment" does not include a filling station or service station that has an enclosed floor area of eight hundred square feet or less and that has an employee toilet facility located within that enclosed floor area. (3) A retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its employees shall allow a customer to use the toilet facility during normal business hours if the toilet facility is reasonably safe and all of the following conditions are met: (a) The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or utilizes an ostomy device and offers a physician's note indicating the eligible medical condition or device; (b) Three or more employees of the retail establishment are working at the time the customer requests use of the employee toilet facility; (c) The employee toilet facility is not located in an area where providing access would create an obvious health or safety risk to the customer or an obvious security risk to the retail establishment; and (d) A public restroom is not immediately accessible to the customer. (4) A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment is not civilly liable for any act or omission in allowing a customer that has an eligible medical condition to use an employee toilet facility that is not a public restroom if the act or omission: (a) Is not willful or grossly negligent; (b) Occurs in an area of the retail establishment that is not accessible to the public; and (c) Results in injury to or death of the customer or any individual other than an employee accompanying the customer. (5) This article shall not be construed to require a retail establishment to make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility. (6) A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment that violates this article 41 is guilty of a petty offense.