If you own your own business, are you required to serve anyone?
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If you own your own business, are you required to serve anyone?
We have one customer who is incredibly rude and who is slandering our name. We would prefer not to see her again, however she doesn’t leave. Can I legally tell her to go somewhere else or is that discrimination of some kind?
Asked on February 28, 2018 under Business Law, Missouri
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
As long as you are not making the decision due to race, sex, religion, disability, or a few other similar, obvous bases, you can tell her to go elsewhere: the law prohibit certain forms of discrimination, but does not otherwise require a private business to serve all people, and a customer may be refused due to rudeness or slander. If she is a member of a protected category (e.g. a disabled African American woman), you'd want to tread lightly, since even if your actual reason is not discriminatory, it would be easy for her to claim overwise--so make sure that the issues are well-documented and provable.
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