Disability Discrimination
Prior to the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, workers with physical and/or mental impairments were regularly discriminated against in hiring, training, compensation, opportunities for advancement, privileges of employment, and termination scenarios. Nowadays, Americans still face discrimination in the workplace as a result of their disabilities, although the ADA has ensured that such treatment is far less commonplace. Additionally, the ADA and various state laws have helped to ensure that when the rights of disabled workers are infringed upon, affected workers have the ability to obtain legal recourse.
Being discriminated against in the workplace can inspire any number of emotions, from anger to humiliation, righteousness to resignation. Know that whatever the circumstances you’re facing and however you feel about the ways in which you’re being treated, you do not have to navigate the legal “side” of your situation on your own. Our firm offers confidential consultations at no cost and with no strings attached to all workers interested in learning about their rights under the law because we believe that legal safeguards don’t mean much unless workers understand how to exercise the rights that the law codifies. You don’t need to make any significant decisions about your legal options right now. All you need to do is invest an hour or two of your time to asking questions and receiving personalized legal counsel in a no-cost consultation setting. That way, if and when you ever do decide to exercise your rights under the law, your decisions will be informed and your approach will be empowered.
Effective Legal Counsel for Workers with Disabilities
California law is particularly “generous” when it comes to defining what a disability is and what rights workers with disabilities have as a protected class. Our firm has extensive experience assisting workers with disabilities exercise and enforce their rights under the
ADA
and California’s particularly expansive disability discrimination laws. Our time-tested approach to client-focused representation has helped our firm earn a reputation for excellence. Instead of prioritizing “speed and volume” when it comes to assisting clients as some other firms do, our firm prioritizes offering high-quality, comprehensive legal services to workers who have been mistreated. Know that when you work with our firm, both you and your case will be treated with great respect. Although our approach to representation is efficient – as we understand that when it comes to a worker’s livelihood, seeking legal recourse is a time-sensitive process – our primary concern is delivering effective results to those who have suffered harm in the workplace without sacrificing compassion, humanity, and attention to detail.
How Is “Disability” Defined?
When state law safeguards a worker’s rights to a greater extent than federal law does, the state law in question becomes the governing authority on the matter. For example, the definition of worker “disability” is more expansive under California state law than it is as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a result, the California interpretation of this term applies when cases are filed in the Golden State. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act of 1959 (FEHA) serves as the state’s companion law to the ADA. Under this expansive law, employers in California who keep five or more employees on their payroll are prohibited from discriminating against workers with disabilities.
Under California law, a broad definition of disability extends to any physical or mental impairment that limits at least one major life activity. In addition to widely recognized injury-based and illness-based conditions, California law treats significant cognitive and learning disabilities and psychiatric conditions including depression as disabilities, provided that these conditions meet the “limits at least one major life activity” standard. Additionally, alcoholism and drug addiction are treated as disabilities under California law, provided that a worker with an addiction-based disability is in recovery and is not actively abusing substances. Finally, protected disabilities may also include impairments that are temporary, provided that these conditions are sufficiently limiting and severe.
In essence,
California’s definition of what constitutes a “disability” shifts the focus from society’s ever-evolving perception of which conditions do and do not meet the definition of disability to concerns over whether a condition functionally limits a worker’s ability to perform their job. This approach allows those who need them, for whatever functionally limiting medical reason, to request reasonable accommodation of their conditions in the workplace.
Disability Discrimination and Reasonable Accommodations
There are two primary kinds of legal challenges brought by employees facing discrimination on account of their protected status as disabled workers. The first consists of allegations that an employer has directly discriminated against them in regards to:
- The job application phase of employment
- The interview phase of employment
- The hiring phase of employment
- Training
- Opportunities for advancement and promotions
- Compensation and benefits
- Requests for medical information and examinations
- Conditions of employment
- Privileges of employment
- Termination
When workers with disabilities are treated differently than their coworkers are in regards to any of these workplace realities as a result of their disabilities, their employers may be held liable for violations of the ADA and relevant state law.
The second kind of primary legal challenge filed by workers facing discrimination due to their protected status as workers with disabilities involves reasonable accommodations. Per the ADA, employers are bound to honor reasonable requests for accommodations of their disabilities unless honoring those requests would cause the employer and/or their operations undue harm. When reasonable accommodation requests are rejected or when workers face retaliation for making such requests, they may have grounds to file legal action against their employers. Reasonable requests for accommodation range from ensuring accessibility to a worksite and procurement of adaptive equipment necessary to complete one’s job-related duties to time off for medical treatment and a space in which to safely and comfortably pump breastmilk.
Reasonable Requests for Accommodation
A reasonable accommodation request may be made by a worker with disabilities if a modification or adjustment will allow them to execute their job-related duties. Generally, an employer can only reject a reasonable request for accommodation if that effort will create an “undue hardship,” such as operational challenges or a significant expense, for the employer. Reasonable requests for accommodation take many forms. Examples of reasonable accommodations include working from home if an office worker cannot be safely vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus due to a medical condition, modified work schedules that allow a worker to seek medical treatment, job restructuring that removes the management of specific physical obstacles from a physically impaired worker’s job duties, and providing a visually or hearing impaired worker with adaptive technology necessary to perform job-related functions. Additionally, permitting a worker to take a legally-protected leave of absence (for a single span of time or intermittently) for medical reasons may also serve as a reasonable accommodation of that worker’s disability.
It is worth noting that the kinds of accommodation requests that can objectively be considered reasonable cannot be divorced from context. For example, it would not serve as an unreasonable hardship to a multi-million dollar corporation to allow one of its 250 content specialists to modify their work schedule to accommodate chemotherapy appointments. However, a small company that employs 20 workers may suffer an undue hardship if its only receptionist regularly needs to be away from their desk for hours at a time during business hours to attend necessary medical appointments. Generally speaking, an employer must embrace a good faith “interactive process” regarding employees with disabilities. This process must allow both parties to exchange information regarding the disabled worker’s functional limitations, ability to perform their job, and potential accommodations that the employer could potentially provide without suffering an undue burden.
Wrongful Termination and Severance Agreements
If you have been wrongfully terminated as a result of your disability, either via a “layoff” scenario or via an involuntary discharge scenario, your employer may have offered you a severance package. Chances are that you have only been given a few days to review the terms of that package. If so, call our firm now. Do not sign a severance agreement until our legal team has reviewed its terms and advised you regarding the potential pros and cons of signing this contract. Chances are that you’re being asked to surrender your right to sue your employer in exchange for minimal compensation and an extension of employee benefits. This is not a right that you should surrender before speaking with an attorney, as doing so could compromise your rights generally and could potentially cost you a great deal of compensation.
Preparing for Your Consultation
If we are given detailed information and access to information that will allow us to understand the ins and outs of your case upfront, the legal guidance we’ll be able to provide you with at the end of your free consultation will be as personalized and uniquely tailored to your situation as possible. Therefore, if you have any evidence whatsoever (including texts, emails, group chat comments, contact information for witnesses, formal rejection of reasonable requests for accommodations, etc.) that speaks to the disability discrimination you’re facing at work, please bring this information along to your consultation for our team to evaluate.
Additionally, please take time to ponder what questions you may have about your situation, opportunities to take legal action related to your situation, and/or our approach to client representation. It is our job to provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions about your circumstances. The best way to ensure that you have all the information you need when your consultation concludes involves writing your questions and concerns down so that you can reference them one by one during your free sit-down with our legal team.
Contact Our Firm Today for a Free Case Evaluation
Too often, victims of discrimination refrain from exploring their legal options because they are concerned that they’ll face retaliation for doing so. It is important to understand that it is illegal for employers to engage in retaliatory behavior when an employee exercises their rights under the law. Therefore, although no attorney can promise a worker that their employer won’t engage in illegal retaliatory actions in the wake of that worker filing a complaint or otherwise exercising their rights under the law, our firm will do our utmost to ensure that you remain protected at every step in the legal process. Additionally, if you have so-far refrained from exploring your legal options because you have concerns about “being overly dramatic” or “kicking up a fuss,” know that exploring and exercising your rights as a worker are not dramatic or weak actions. They are profoundly courageous actions that could lead to justice for you and anyone else experiencing mistreatment in your workplace.
If you haven’t yet scheduled a free, confidential case evaluation with “no strings attached,” please do so today. Attending this meeting won’t obligate you to work with our firm or to file legal action. Investing your time will simply allow you to ask experienced legal professionals any questions you may have and to receive personalized legal guidance accordingly. We look forward to speaking with you.