Restrooms are for customers only?

Question

I just read about this Hershey store which prohibited a 5 year old girl from using their restroom and this has caused a lot of controversy. I also read that from a legal point of view, all establishment must allow anyone in their premises to use their public restroom. So, when you see signs outside restaurants (most often than not) which says Restrooms are for customers only or Restrooms are for PAYING customers only, are they violating the law?

Answer 1

My understanding is that some states have laws requiring public restrooms and some don't. For instance below is the Illinois law...it requires any retail establishment that has a restroom for employees to allow the public to access it during normal business hours if the restroom is safe to access and the person has a medical reason.



http://www.ilga.gov/LEGISLATION/ILCS/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2726&ChapAct=410%26nbsp;ILCS%26nbsp;39/&ChapterID=35&ChapterName=PUBLIC+HEALTH&ActName=Restroom+Access+Act.



Connecticut has a similar law



http://www.thefreelibrary.com/New+Connecticut+Law+Requires+Retail+Establishments+To+Offer+Employee...-a0202715502



as does Ohio



http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4173

Answer 2

Restroom For Customers Only Sign

Answer 3

It is common courtesy for a person who needs to use the restroom to purchase an item or partake of the service offered there. Some businesses are not required by law or ordinance to provide a public restroom; and therefore do not do so. Considering that providing public access to areas of a business which may be considered private do lead to insurance issues and health issues for the business, there are expenses involved. I have worked in retail situations where there has and has not been public access into the restrooms and either decision can be a blessing or a curse. It is a blessing to be able to offer access to the customers for their convenience. It is not a blessing for the staff who has to deal with the cleanliness of the area or the fact that many items get stolen through the use of the restroom. Potential customers can get upset if they are not given access to a restroom, but most people are understanding and most businesses will be able to suggest other facilities within a reasonable distance for the person needing to use bathroom facilities. I can be very sure that many people who complain about public access to the restroom would become instantly more understanding once they had to perform a job which included cleaning a public access facility. So purchasing a least a small item will help to offset all of these things.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.



RE:

Restrooms are for customers only?

I just read about this Hershey store which prohibited a 5 year old girl from using their restroom and this has caused a lot of controversy. I also read that from a legal point of view, all establishment must allow anyone in their premises to use their public restroom. So, when you see signs outside...

Answer 5

Here in NY, restaurants legally have to provide restroom facilities for it's dining customers. Stores and other merchants or vendors, however, are not required to have publicly accessible bathrooms. After all - water, soap, paper towels and bathroom maintenance all cost the owner money. I think the manager of that chocolate store was a prick and it was a stupid PR move on his part to not help out a child, but it's private property and I don't see how he did anything illegal.

Answer 6

As cruel as it is, a private company can limit the bathroom to anyone it sees fit to do so to.

Many companies do this to keep transients and bums from using their facilities as a public restroom, which it is not. Same is said for a parking sign, customers only.

The point in question here would be; what is to say they were not customers. The definition of the term "Customer" would be elicited.

Does not the term customer, apply to one who enters the store?

Seeing they were in the store, would they then not be a potential customer, or a potential paying customer?

Answer 7

Wow give me a break. The 5 year old girl yes I feel bad for her. The thing that you normally see asking to use a store restroom not one bit.



I remember one time I was leaving work and some random douchebag off the street asked me to let him in to use the restroom. This is a secure office building with cameras and key card entry. I told him I could lose my job and I can't let him in. He gave me so much lip over something so stupid and he had to know I was telling the truth as the gd door required swipe cards. I suspect his real motive was to steal something but I cannot be sure.



In conclusion, you are beating the wrong drum. That 5 year old is in the .0001 percent of people banging on the door asking to use the restroom.

Answer 8

That's an issue that varies widely from not only State to State, but from community to community as well.



Refusing to allow a child to use a rest room would surely be bad customer relations but not illegal in many other communities.



Just read about some drunk going into a family type restaurant, wanting to use the rest room. He was refused and then ushered out the door. He turned around and urinated on the front door. That was bad enough, but the door was glass. . ., upset a few families in the eatery.

Answer 9

I think it is wrong for a place to deny a child to use the restroom~I can see telling the cheep as parent no~but the child it aint their fault~i worked for a place that had the signs up~they are private restrooms, because it was privatly owned but I could have never told a child no I would have had to lose my job first~!

Answer 10

No because the restrooms in many stores or businesses are not public restrooms. Which means they have the legal right to limit the use to paying customers. If the child needed to use the restroom, her mother should have bought something in the store. After all how much would it cost for your child's comfort? Less than $5 for a little bit of candy?

Answer 11

You can't imagine some of the gross messes I've had to deal with--vomit in the urinal, poop on the walls, big hunks of manure from some cowboy's boots that he failed to scrape off before coming in the building, puddles of blood from someone's nosebleed, big gooey lungers in the bottom of the sink, or where some little boy missed the urinal completely and went on the floor. I once had to wipe what I really suspected to be semen from the door of the stall in the men's room--don't know how that got there (?????) You get the point.



My boss spends large amount of money on paper towels, toilet paper, soap and cleaning supplies to clean this nightly mess up. Often people who are not even paying customers only stop in to use the toilet and then leave.



Now, is this really fair?

Answer 12

I think that's really, REALLY wrong... What if you came in to browse, didn't find anything you liked, and needed the restroom?

Answer 13

no, they are privately owned... therefore they can do as they wish with their bathrooms.

Answer 14

No.