STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 53rd Legislature (2011)

HOUSE BILL 1901	By:	Scott

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to public health and safety; creating the Restroom Access Act; defining terms; requiring access to employee toilets by certain customers under certain circumstances; exempting retail establishments from civil liability upon certain circumstances; providing penalty for violation; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1031 of Title 63, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Restroom Access Act”.
SECTION 2.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1032 of Title 63, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
For purposes of the Restroom Access Act:
1.  “Customer” means an individual who is lawfully on the premises of a retail establishment;
2.  “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; and
3.  “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, with a structure of eight hundred (800) square feet or less, that has an employee toilet facility located within that structure.
SECTION 3.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1033 of Title 63, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its employees shall allow a customer to use that facility during normal business hours if the toilet facility is reasonably safe and all of the following conditions are met:
1.  The customer requesting the use of the employee toilet facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or utilizes an ostomy device;
2.  Three or more employees of the retail establishment are working at the time the customer requests use of the employee toilet facility;
3.  The retail establishment does not normally make a restroom available to the public;
4.  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
5.  A public restroom is not immediately accessible to the customer.
SECTION 4.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1-1034 of Title 63, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A.  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 meets all of the following:
1.  It is not willful or grossly negligent;
2.  It occurs in an area of the retail establishment that is not accessible to the public; and
3.  It results in an injury to or death of the customer or any individual other than an employee accompanying the customer.
B.  A retail establishment is not required to make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility under the Restroom Access Act.
C.  A retail establishment or an employee of a retail establishment that violates Section 3 of this act shall be subject to a fine of not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).
SECTION 5.  This act shall become effective November 1, 2011.

53-1-6086	AM	01/04/11