Disability Discrimination at Work in California

State and Federal disability laws prohibit discrimination in the workplace. An employer is prohibited by law to discriminate against an employee or job applicants based on their disability. This includes hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, fringe benefits, and any other aspect of employment. You can read more about what a qualifying disability is here.

Employees with disabilities are protected under both the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA); however, FEHA provides greater protection to employees. For instance, FEHA prohibits employers with 5 or more employees from discriminating against job applicants or employees on the basis of their disability. In contrast, the ADA applies to employers with 15 or more employees. The ADA and FEHA both prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who assert their rights.

An employer may be engaging in disability discrimination when it refuses to provide reasonable accommodations and/or fails to engage in a timely, good faith interactive process to determine reasonable accommodations.

Employers must provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities who request reasonable accommodations unless doing so would result in undue hardship to the employer. A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment to the way work must be performed in order to accommodate an employee with a disability.

A non-exhaustive list of possible reasonable accommodations include:

– Job modifications
– Providing leave for medical care
– Changing work schedules
– Relocating the work area

To determine reasonable accommodations, the employers must engage in the “interactive process.” During this process, it is essential that the employer and the employee communicate in good faith in an effort to establish a mutually beneficial reasonable accommodation. You can read more about the interactive process here.

If an employer denies a request for accommodation, an employee can file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or with California’s Civil Rights Department.

At TONG LAW, we exclusively represent employees in disability discrimination claims. To speak to one of our attorneys, please fill out the initial questionnaire here.