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• Practice Areas • Practices • Public-Accommodations Discrimination

Even outside of the workplace, anyone can experience public-accommodations discrimination. Even though discrimination in public accommodations is illegal, people experience it regularly in our society regardless. Many victims take no action because they think what happened to them constitutes a one-off instance, or that they can do nothing about it. At The Chandra Law Firm LLC, our attorneys know how to recognize public-accommodations discrimination and will help you take the necessary steps to fight it.

Places of public accommodation have the right to refuse service to anyone, unless they are discriminating against a protected class

Federal and local laws provide that you are entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation.

Places of public accommodation include but are not limited to:

• inns, hotels, and motels;,
• restaurants, cafeterias, and lunch counters;
• motion-picture houses, theaters, and concert halls;
• retail stores; and
• sports arenas, stadiums, and other entertainment venues.

While places of public accommodation are allowed to deny services according to their company policies or rules, they cannot do so for discriminatory reasons. Federal, state, and local laws can collectively protect you from discrimination in places of public accommodation based on race, color, religion, sex, military status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry.

Public-accommodations discrimination is difficult to prove

Even when you innately know you are facing discrimination in a place of public accommodation, proving it in court can be challenging. In some cases, you have to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a public-accommodations-discrimination claim.

Generally, there are two ways to show public-accommodations discrimination.

The first is direct evidence. For example, this could be someone offering their services at a store uses blatantly discriminatory language towards a customer. One would have to prove through recordings, witnesses, or other evidence that this occurred.

The second way is through “comparators.” In other words, you would have to demonstrate that you were deprived of services that others were not deprived of, and the main difference between you is your race, sex, religion, etc.

You must demonstrate that:

• You are a member of a protected class
• You attempted to exercise your right to full benefits and enjoyment of the establishment
• You were denied benefits and enjoyments of services by the place of public accommodation
• You were treated less favorably by the place of accommodation than a similarly suited person who is not a member of your protected class

We have experience addressing public-accommodations discrimination and have secured results for our clients in the past:

• Favorable ruling by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission for a customer who faced racial discrimination in a store.
• Satisfactory resolution for restaurant diners who faced public-accommodations racial discrimination
• Other resolutions for shoppers who faced racial discrimination in places of public accommodation, including retail establishments.

The Chandra Law Firm LLC is ready to fight for you

If you have faced public-accommodations discrimination, please call us at 216-578-1700 or fill out our online contact form to learn how we may be able to help.

At Chandra Law, your case is our cause.®