I have a legal question about public restrooms.

I've searched and googled but can not find the answer.

Does anyone know (or can find out) if grocery stores in Indiana are required by law to have a public restroom?

I was in a cheap discount grocery store (think Aldi's but not as civilized heh) today (not a mystery shop, just ran out of sour cream).

An elderly woman who appeared to be a little mentally and physically handicapped came in and asked the cashier where their restroom was.

The cashier said, "Don't got a public one."

The woman starts crying and says, "Please, I have to go right now. I can't hold it anymore."

The cashier starts laughing and says, "I told you, we don't got one."

The woman keeps crying, and the cashier keeps laughing and making fun of her to a customer.

A younger boy that works there came to the front and he said he would help the woman find one. When they left, the cashier was still laughing and talking about her to another customer.

First, tomorrow I am calling and complaining about the cashier to the manager. I was pretty disgusted by how she acted. She wasn't a young girl either, I know her from somewhere and she's at least 40.

Also though, I am wondering if they are required by law to provide a public restroom. I would be grateful if anyone had an answer because I can not find it by googling.

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An attorney friend tells me that a business establishment serving customers is required to have a restroom available to its customers. This is regulated at the state and local level. Most states use either the IPC (International Plumbing Code) or the UPC (Uniform Plumbing Code). Both IPC and UPC require a business to provide restroom facilities for its employees and customers both. I am in Texas, which uses the IPC, except in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio, which use UPC. Indiana uses UPC. Here is a site where you can look at the code: www.americanrestroom.org/code/index.htm

You may want to report not only to the manager but also to your state or local plumbing inspector. Although customers denied the right to use a restroom by a store seldom report the incident, a store that violates codes can be found guilty of a misdemeanor charge.

Disgusting behavior on the part of the store employee! She should be very ashamed of herself .... and her manager should be ashamed of both the employee and the store policy of denying restrooms to customers, if it is store policy.
I don't know, but this is what I thinksmiling smiley Availability of public restrooms most likely would be determined by the States. Establishments serving food to diners (restaurants, c-stores, etc.) must provide public restrooms. Maybe the elderly woman frequently comes into the store making requests, but the employee's rudeness and blatant disrespect wasn't justified.

You could check with the health department in the county the store is located for requirements.
I suspect it may depend on the type of store in Florida. I have done a few shops where I needed to do a restroom check and there was not a public one. I always ask a female employee and have been led off to the employee restroom where they punch in a key code to let me in. And those have obviously been employee restrooms as there usually have been cubbies or lockers and in the case of cubbies you can see folks' brush & comb, toothbrushes etc. It is the rare establishment, though, that does not have a public restroom. I gather it is a requirement for grocery stores because in one grocery I visit you need to walk through the warehouse area, past the huge frozen foodlockers to get there. But there is definitely a sign on the door and signs along the way, though obviously it was made a public restroom as an afterthought.
Borders has a public restroom, however, it needs tokens. So, you go upstairs, find that out, go downstairs and try to get one...always at another register, then go upstairs again, hope you have great control. I hate when your in a large restaurant and there is a restroom with one john. Grocery stores here all have decent restrooms, don't know about the law, but hate to use a public one anyway!!!

Live consciously....
Here is a page that might give you some answers:
[www.americanrestroom.org]

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Stores in Arkansas must not have to have them. Some C-stores are starting to close theirs because what all goes on in them. Stores that never had them have not put them in. The newer $ stores have put them in but the older ones do not have them. I guess it depends on the company if they are not required by the state.
Arkansas is an exception. Arkansas does not use either IPC or UPC. Arkansas has its own state plumbing code. So do Kentucky and Louisiana.
I recently reported a store to the health inspector. He didn't hold out much hope of accomplishing anything. Their self-flushing toilets (that flush when they want to, not when the customer is ready) throw back water on the sitting customer. I told him that in my mind that is being exposed to raw sewage.
If you dangle a long piece of TP down your back so it's hanging in front of the sensor, it often helps with premature flushing issues.
That is terrible! Even if they don't have to have one, in case of an emergency they should let a customer use it.
When I overheard a woman trying to convince her screaming child to use the restroom by telling her she would put her hand over the sensor, I realized that I could put duct tape or something over it when using it. I already carry Lysol in my handbag for cleaning the seat. That place is awful. They don't hire enough help to do anything.
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