Connecticut shoppers with bowel disorders, rejoice! Now, there's a sentence we never expected to write. In order to prevent humiliating and undignified restroom access debacles for people with verified medical conditions, Connecticut has passed a law guaranteeing their access to otherwise off-limits restrooms in public places. The law went into effect on October 1st.

Here's the relevant section:

(b) Any retail establishment that has a restroom for employee use, which typically does not permit customer access to such employee restroom, shall permit a customer to use the employee restroom during normal business hours if the restroom is maintained in a reasonably safe manner and all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The customer requesting access to the employee restroom presents written evidence, issued by a licensed health care provider, that documents that the customer suffers from an eligible medical condition;

(2) A public restroom is not immediately accessible to the customer;

(3) At the time that the request for access to the employee restroom is made, three or more employees of the retail establishment are working; and

(4) The employee restroom is located in an area of the retail establishment that does not present an obvious risk to the health or safety of the customer or an obvious security risk to the retail establishment.

The law puts some reasonable limits on such situations, and clears up some liability concerns that store management might have.

AN ACT CONCERNING CUSTOMER ACCESS TO RESTROOMS IN RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS [Connecticut General Assembly]

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(Photo: ryaninc)