Under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), any business and its place(s) of public accommodation must be accessible to potential customers of all ability levels.
All public businesses share these obligations. However, certain entities are exempt from following ADA regulations. Private clubs, for instance, are not under Title III obligations.
Why is that? What even is a private club? Are private clubs obligated to follow any regulations?
In this piece, we will explore and answer these questions and more.
Let’s start with an overview. Title III of the ADA mandates that any business’s place of public accommodation must not discriminate against or exclude individuals based on disability status.
According to the ADA, a place of public accommodation refers to a “facility operated by a private entity whose operations affect commerce.” These include stores, places of lodging, restaurants, and many others. As of 2019, it is also generally accepted that websites count as places of public accommodation, so long as the parent company also has a physical location.
It’s a basic enough concept. If you have a business that’s open to the public, all members of the public must be able to access its services. But what about entities that are decisively not open to the public? Entities like private clubs. Where do their obligations lie?
The ADA National Network defines private clubs as organizations that are not open to the public and that “have some meaningful conditions for membership, with operations often controlled by the membership, and whose facilities and activities are only open to members and their guests.”
Private clubs are exclusively facilitated social groups that consist of curated memberships, are formed for social or recreational purposes, and are not open to the public.
Examples of private clubs include country clubs, yacht clubs, gun clubs, garden clubs, and even Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. (VFW) halls.
Having understood the definition of a private club, let’s go over how an organization becomes designated as one.
The ADA makes note that just because a business has the word “club” in its name, it doesn’t mean it holds private club status. Many fitness facilities, stores, and restaurants operate under the nomenclature “club,” but not in any official capacity.
The designation and definition of private clubs is handled by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the ADA National Network, the EEOC considers the following when designating a private club:
Unlike private entities, private clubs, are not covered by ADA Title III except in specific circumstances. Under the First Amendment of the Constitution, private clubs have a right to “expressive association.” This means that private clubs have the right to exclude individuals who they deem as unrepresentative of the club’s views or principles.
Since private clubs are not open to the public, they are exempt from the classification of “public accommodation.” A private club and its locations do not affect commerce at large. Its scope of influence and activity is limited to its membership, which is itself limited. As such, they cannot legally be held to the same general accommodation standards as a public business.
There are, however, exceptions to this exemption.
As we mentioned earlier, there are some cases where private clubs are subject to the same obligations as public accommodations. These are outlined in Section 36.201 of ADA Title III.
The ADA states that “a private club is considered a place of public accommodation to the extent that ‘the facilities of such establishment are made available to the customers or patrons’ of a place of public accommodation.”
In other words, if a private club conducts operations or has functions open to the public, then the private club must comply with the ADA.
Many clubs hold public events or functions for fundraising or recruiting new members. These events may be held in places of public accommodations, such as hotels, restaurants, and convention centers. As such, private clubs may temporarily lose their exemption status and be subject to Title III during these public events.
Title III of the ADA gives another example to help clarify the obligations of private clubs. If a private club rents its facilities to a public day care center, then both the private club and the tenant day care would fall under ADA obligation.
Unlike businesses, private clubs are not obligated to adhere to the public accommodation laws found in Title III of the ADA. This is because private clubs are verified entities whose operations and services are decisively not open to the public.
Though there are exceptions to this exemption, consumers should be aware that designated private clubs are not held to the same accessibility standards as public businesses. As the legal landscape of accessibility continues to evolve, it is important to be fully aware of what is and is not covered by the law.