Public Accommodation

Public Accommodations Discrimination Is Unlawful in Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County's Human Rights Code makes it unlawful for places of public accommodations to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, national origin, handicap (disability), familial status, sexual orientation, age, marital status or gender identity or expression.

The following establishments, which serve the public, are covered by the Code:

1. Any inn, hotel, motel or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, other than an establishment located within a building which contains not more than five (5) rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as his/her residence;
2. Any restaurant, bar, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter, soda fountain, or other facility principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises, including but not limited to any such facility located on the premises of any retail establishment;
3. Any motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium or other place of exhibition or entertainment;
4. An auditorium, convention center, lecture hall or other place of public gathering;
5. A bakery, grocery store, clothing store, hardware store, shopping center, or other sales or retail establishment;
6. A laundromat, dry-cleaner, bank, barber shop, beauty shop, travel service, shoe repair service, funeral parlor, gas station, office of an accountant or lawyer, pharmacy, insurance office, health care provider, hospital or other service establishment;
7. A terminal, depot or other station used for a specified public transportation including but not limited to taxis, limousines and buses;
8. A museum, library, gallery or other place of public display or collection;
9. A park, zoo, amusement park or other place of recreation;
10. A nursery, elementary, secondary, undergraduate or postgraduate private school, or other place of education;
11. A day care center, senior citizen center, homeless shelter, food bank, adoption agency or other social service center establishment;
12. A gymnasium, health spa, bowling alley, golf course, or other place of exercise or recreation;
13. Any area or structure provided for the purpose of storing personal property; and
14. Any establishment:
    1. 1. Which is physically located within the premises of any establishment otherwise covered by this subsection; or 
       2. Within the premises of which is physically located any such covered establishment; and
    2. Which holds itself out as serving patrons of such covered establishment. Such term shall not include any institution, club or place of accommodation which is in its nature distinctly private and not in fact open to the public.

Excluded from coverage are all clubs or places of public accommodation that are distinctly private and not open to the public.