Unruh Act Business Establishment

Under California Unruh Act, all persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, martial status, or sexual orientation are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever. CA Civil Code sections 51 and 52.

Business Covered Under the Unruh Act

The Unruh Civil Rights Act requires “[f]ull and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges or services in all business establishments.” This includes, but is not limited to, the following places: • Hotels and motels

  • Bars
  • Theaters
  • Nightclubs
  • Fitness clubs and gyms
  • Golf Courses
  • Restaurants
  • Theaters
  • Hospitals
  • Hotels and Motels
  • Barber shops and beauty salons
  • Retails Shops
  • Online Businesses
  • Business Websites
  • Public agencies
  • Retail establishments
  • Housing accommodations – including rental housing and shared-economy housing
  • Nonprofit organizations that have a business purpose or are a public accommodation


The unruh civil rights act provides protection from discrimination by all business establishments in California, including housing and public accommodations. The term “business establishments” may include governmental and public entities as well.

The language of the Unruh Civil Rights Act specifically outlaws discrimination in housing and public accommodations based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. However, the California Supreme Court has held that protections under the Unruh Act are not necessarily restricted to these characteristics.

The Act is meant to cover all arbitrary and intentional discrimination by a business establishment on the basis of personal characteristics similar to those listed above.

The law also protects the rights of individuals with disabilities to use streets, highways, and other public places; public conveyances; places of public accommodation, amusement or resort, and housing accommodations; and guide, signal, or service animals or alternative accommodations for persons with disabilities. The law clearly distinguishes between the right of a business to refuse service based on conduct as opposed to personal characteristics. The misconduct or disruptive behavior of particular individuals may be grounds for refusing to do business with them or denying them services.

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1. Business Covered Under the Unruh Act
2. Protection Under the Law Against Sex or Gender Discrimination
3. Examples of Unruh Act Violations
4. Senior House
5. Cases that Interpret and Define Unruh Act
6. Unruh Act Legal Principles


Protection Under the Law Against Sex or Gender Discrimination

The Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51-52), originally enacted in 1959, was designed to protect the rights of Californians from arbitrary discrimination and to guarantee their rights to full and equal access to all public accommodations regardless of sex.

Discrimination by business establishments on the basis of sex is against the law. It is unlawful for any business that is open to the general public to discriminate against a patron based on any of the following classifications: sex, race, color, religion, age, ancestry, national origin, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, martial status, or sexual orientation. Unruh Act protection is not limited to these classifications. It is an Unruh Act violation for a business to offer special treatment, whether preferential or detrimental, to one class of patrons regardless of the business’ motives for doing so.

Examples of Sex-Based Discrimination Under the Unruh Act

The following are examples of potential violations of the Unruh Act. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, and there is other conduct that may violate the Act.

    • Providing free admission, discounts, or promotions gifts to only one sex.

    • Charging men and women different prices of comparable services, such as clothing alterations, haircuts, dry cleaning, or drinks at a restaurant or bar.

    • Maintaining “women only” or “men only” exercise areas of a fitness club or gym and excluding or deterring the opposite sex from those areas.

    • Establishing a “women only” or “men only” business establishment which would otherwise be completely open to the public.

    • Excluding one sex from a business premises during certain times.

    • Posting signs or adopting policies for “women recommended” or “men preferred.”

    • Requiring members of one sex to submit to searches to gain admittance to a business establishment while providing admittance to members of the other sex without the same level or degree of search.

Examples of Unruh Act Violations

The following examples represent potential violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Other situations may also qualify as Unruh Act violations depending on the specific circumstances:

  • A hotel charges a $100 service fee only to guests of a certain racial group but not to other guests of the hotel.

  • A doctor refuses to treat a patient who has been diagnosed as HIV positive.

  • Promoting a business with “ladies night” discounts on admission and services.

  • A same-sex couple is denied a table at a restaurant even though there are vacant tables available and other customers are seated immediately.

  • A visually impaired individual is told their service animal is not allowed in a store.

  • Charging men and women different prices for comparable services, such as clothing alterations, haircuts, dry cleaning, or drinks at a restaurant or bar.

  • Promoting a business with “ladies night” discounts on admission and services.

  • Denying access to a business, such as a nightclub to a particular sex, or giving preference to one sex over the other.

Senior House

The Unruh Civil Rights Act contains provisions regulating the establishment of specialized housing designed to meet the physical and/or social needs of senior citizens.

Housing that meets these requirements is exempt from the familial status and age provisions of the Fair Employment and Housing Act and may, therefore, legally exclude households with children.

Similar provisions are provided for senior citizen mobile home parks under federal fair housing laws.

Cases that Interpret and Define Unruh Act

Board of Dirs. of Rotary Int’l v. Rotary Club of Duarte, 481 U.S. 537

Defendant appealed a judgment of the Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, that held that both defendant club and plaintiff club were business establishments within the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51 (1982), where plaintiffs alleged that defendant club discriminated against women.


Warfield v. Peninsula Golf & Country Club (1995) 10 Cal.4th 594

Plaintiff, female golfer, filed a petition for review of the judgment of the Court of Appeal (California), which sustained the trial court’s directed verdict for defendant country club, concluding that plaintiff failed to prove that defendant was a business establishment within the meaning of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51, and that plaintiff lacked standing to pursue a claim for denial of the right to fair procedure.

Isbister v. Boys’ Club of Santa Cruz, 40 Cal. 3d 72

Appellant boys’ club challenged a judgment of the Superior Court of Santa Cruz County (California), which found that appellant’s membership policy violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51, and permanently enjoined appellant from denying membership or access to its facilities to girls because the policy caused harm to the rejected girls, and deprived members of a nondiscriminatory environment.

Angelucci v. Century Supper Club, 41 Cal. 4th 160

Plaintiff male patrons sued defendant supper club for violating the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Civ. Code, § 51 et seq. The trial court entered judgment on the pleadings in favor of the club. The California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Five, affirmed the judgment, holding that Civ. Code, § 52, provides a remedy only to those plaintiffs who request nondiscriminatory treatment and are refused. The male patrons petitioned for review.

Koire v. Metro Car Wash, 40 Cal. 3d 24

Plaintiff appellant sought review of an order from the Superior Court of Orange County (California) in which the court found that discounts based on sex did not violate the Unruh Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51.


Unruh Act Legal Principles

  • “[T]he Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits arbitrary discrimination in public accommodations with respect to trained service dogs, but not to service-animals- in-training.” (Miller v. Fortune Commercial Corp. (2017) 15 Cal.App.5th 214, 224 [223 Cal.Rptr.3d 133].)

  • “The Unruh Act was enacted to ‘create and preserve a nondiscriminatory environment in California business establishments by “banishing” or “eradicating” arbitrary, invidious discrimination by such establishments.’ ” (Flowers v. Prasad (2015) 238 Cal.App.4th 930, 937 [190 Cal.Rptr.3d 33].)

  • “ ‘The Legislature used the words “all” and “of every kind whatsoever” in referring to business establishments covered by the Unruh Act, and the inclusion of these words without any exception and without specification of particular kinds of enterprises, leaves no doubt that the term “business establishments” was used in the broadest sense reasonably possible. The word “business” embraces everything about which one can be employed, and it is often synonymous with “calling, occupation, or trade, engaged in for the purpose of making a livelihood or gain.” The word “establishment,” as broadly defined, includes not only a fixed location, such as the “place where one is permanently fixed for residence or business,” but also a permanent “commercial force or organization” or “a permanent settled position, (as in life or business).” ’ ” (O’Connor v. Village Green Owners Assn. (1983) 33 Cal.3d 790, 795 [191 Cal.Rptr. 320, 662 P.2d 427], internal citations omitted.)
  • “Invidious discrimination is the treatment of individuals in a manner that is malicious, hostile, or damaging.” (Javorsky v. Western Athletic Clubs, Inc. (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 1386, 1404 [195 Cal.Rptr.3d 706].)

  • Whether a defendant is a “business establishment” is decided as an issue of law. (Rotary Club of Duarte, supra, 178 Cal.App.3d at p. 1050.)

  • “Nevertheless, the enumerated categories, bearing the ‘common element’ of being ‘personal’ characteristics of an individual, necessarily confine the Act’s reach to forms of discrimination based on characteristics similar to the statutory classifications—such as ‘a person’s geographical origin, physical attributes, and personal beliefs.’ The ‘personal characteristics’ protected by the Act are not defined by ‘immutability, since some are, while others are not [immutable], but that they represent traits, conditions, decisions, or choices fundamental to a person’s identity, beliefs and self-definition.’ ” (Candelore v. Tinder, Inc. (2018) 19 Cal.App.5th 1138, 1145 [228 Cal.Rptr.3d 336].)
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