Source: https://www.miraclemilelaw.com/service/los-angeles-disability-discrimination-lawyer/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 05:10:06+00:00

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Unfortunately, disabilities are a grim reality of life, whether they be physical or mental. Even more so when the disability impairs your work life. Fortunately, employees in California are given the utmost protection from Disability Discrimination. Both Federal and California state law as recognized the right to lead a meaningful and purposeful life at work free from discrimination.
Which Laws Protect Me From Disability Discrimination?
Both Federal and State law offer significant protections for employees against disability discrimination.
Under California law, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) prevents employers from taking certain actions against disabled employees. In order to hold an employer liable for disability discrimination at work under the FEHA, a few things need to be satisfied.
First, you must determine whether your disability is recognized under the FEHA statute. Usually, most physical disabilities such as blindness and paraplegia are recognized disabilities; some mental disabilities, such as anxiety and clinical depression are also recognized under FEHA. See below for a full list of disabilities that qualify under FEHA.
Second, the employer must have either been given notice of the disability. Fortunately, this does not mean that you must have directly informed your supervisor of your disability. So long as your disability was known (or should have been known) to your employer through observation or notice from a third party, that would be sufficient.
Third, the employer must provide you with reasonable accommodations so that you can perform the essential functions of your job. Note that the employer is not required to do so if he can prove that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the business operation or would severely endanger the health of other employees. If you are not sure whether your requested accommodation qualifies as an “undue hardship,” contact us today.
Covered Employers: Under the ADA, all employers in the private sector with 15 more or more employees are covered while under the FEHA, employers with 5 more or more employees are covered.
Degree of Disability: The ADA requires that the physical or mental impairment substantially limit the major life activity, while there is no such requirement under FEHA. In other words, FEHA is much broader when it comes to covering certain physical and mental disabilities.
Limit on Damages: under the ADA, damages are limited to compensatory and punitive damages while under the FEHA there are no caps on civil damages.
How Do I Know If I Am Considered Disabled?
What Is Considered a “Disability” in California?
Examples of physical disabilities include blindness, deafness, missing limbs, mobility impairments, cerebral palsy and conditions such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, epilepsy, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and heart disease.
(3) Special Education disabilities, such as significant difficulties in the use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical abilities. Examples of special education disabilities include: brain injury, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.
(4) A record or history of disability. This includes individuals who may not be currently disabled, but who previously suffered an impairment.
(5) Perceived disabilities. Individuals may fall into this category if their employers regard them as having or having had a physical or mental condition that has no present disabling effect, but which may become a disability in the future.
Associated Disability Claims – Employers are also prohibited under both FEHA and the ADA from discriminating against an employee because of his or her association with a person who has, or is perceived to have, a disability.
What is NOT Considered A "Disability" Under FEHA?
Am I Entitled to Accommodations For My Disability?
State and federal disability laws require covered employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability if the employer knows of the disability. However, no accommodation is required if the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship.
A “reasonable accommodation” is any modification or adjustment in a job that allows an individual with a disability to enjoy an equal employment opportunity. It can also be any modification or adjustment that is effective in enabling an employee to perform the essential functions of the job. However, what is reasonable depends on the nature of the work the employee is engaged in. Therefore, what is reasonable is up for debate.
When is my employer required to provide a reasonable accommodation?
Even before providing reasonable accommodations, the employer is required to engage in something called the “interactive process.” This is done as soon as an employer is made aware of the employee’s qualifying disability, either directly or through observation or by a third party. Next, the employer and the employee will exchange essential information to determine what type of accommodation is reasonable to allow the employee to perform the essential functions of his or her job. An employer is not required to make any modification, adjustment or change to a job or policy that would fundamentally alter the essential functions of the job.
What happens during the interactive process?
During the interactive process, the employer must timely, and in good faith, grant the employee’s requested accommodation or reject it after careful consideration. They must then initiate discussion with the employee regarding alternative accommodations. The employer must also request medical documentation, but may not ask about the underlying medical causes of the disability. The employer may, however, request a second opinion.
The employee must provide medical documentation to prove the existence of a physical or mental disability. In some circumstances, the employee may be required to provide certain information, such as educational background, to determine whether alternative accommodations are necessary. Call one of our disability discrimination lawyers today to find out whether your boss is illegally denying accommodations.
What Are Some Examples of Unreasonable Accommodations?
How Do I Ask My Employer For Work Accommodations?
What If My Boss Refuses To Accommodate My Disability?
Unfortunately, this happens very frequently. If your boss has refused to accommodate your disability, you may have a lawsuit on your hands. Failure to reasonably accommodate an employee is against the law, and an employee may be able to recover damages. An employee can also bring a claim for failure to engage in the interactive process.
Additionally, under FEHA, the mere act of requesting a reasonable accommodation is protected activity and an employer cannot discriminate or retaliate against a person for requesting the accommodation – regardless of whether the request was granted. See Failure to Accommodate claims.
Can my boss retaliate against me for requesting an accommodation that he does not like?
What should I do if my boss is forcing me to perform job duties that are in violation of my work restrictions?
Can my boss fire me for having ADD?
How Much Time Do I Have to File A Disability Discrimination Lawsuit?
A statute of limitations refers to the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit in a court of law. If you do not file within the time permitted of a statute of limitation, then you lose the chance to recover for your damages. Disability discrimination lawsuits have a statute of limitations.
If you are suing for disability, you have 180 days from the date of last discriminatory act to obtain a right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). After this you have 90 days to file suit in a court of law. On the other hand, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) gives you one year from date of last discriminatory act to obtain a right-to-sue letter. After obtaining the right-to-sue letter, the DFEH gives you another to file a lawsuit in State court. Therefore, your wrongful termination case is time sensitive, so you must act fast in contact a lawyer to preserve your rights.
Here at Miracle Mile Law Group, we receive many questions surrounding disability discrimination. We will answer some of the most frequently asked questions from employees who face age discrimination, and share some guidance.
Can I Be Fired For Having ADD?
How Do I Ask For Work Accommodations If I Was Injured?
Should I Hire a Cancer Disability Accommodation Lawyer?
What Are Some Examples of Previous Disability Discrimination Lawsuits?
Fox v. General Motors Corp .- an employee claimed that his supervisors and co-workers were harassing him due to his non-work-related back injury. His supervisors used profane language, berated him for his inability to perform certain tasks, deliberately assigned him work beyond his medical restrictions, instructed other employees not to speak to disabled employees and refused to allow him to test for another position in the company. The court found that the employee was entitled to a harassment claim under the ADA and FEHA.
Barrie v. State of California – an employee suffered from allergic rhinitis, which is a condition where exposure to chemicals, such as cleaning agents and perfumes, caused him to have extreme allergic reactions. Initially, the employer informally accommodated the employee by asking employees not to wear perfumes and asking the cleaning staff to not use certain cleaning products. Eventually, however, a new supervisor stopped enforcing the accommodations. A surprise inspection from a year later confirmed chemicals and other scented products were still in use in his work area. The jury awarded the employee over $3 million in damages.
Caldera v. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – In a 2018 disability harassment case, a California appellate court upheld a $500,000 jury award to an employee whose supervisor and coworkers mimicked his stutter. The employee alleged that fellow employees and his supervisor mocked or mimicked his stutter in front of other employees at least a dozen times over a two-year period. The jury ruled in favor of the employee, finding the harassment was both severe and pervasive, and awarded him $500,000.
Axel v. Field Motorcars: A car dealership employee who worked for his employer for over ten years was distraught when he was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to undergo holistic treatments, which his employer characterized as “not…real doctor’s treatment.” Subsequent to his diagnosis, the employee was fired for something that occurred 10 years prior. In fact, the Judge believed the plaintiff when he contended that the dealership did no investigation and that the real reason of the firing was the cancer diagnosis. The jury awarded the employee $1,200,000.
Leggins v. Rite Aid Corp: An employee sustained serious injuries when he was beaten during a robbery at his company. He returned to work seven months later but suffered severe pain that sometimes made it difficult for him to walk and use his left arm and leg. The employee nevertheless worked full time but informed his employer that he needed to take medication for the pain. Subsequently, he was fired one day for closing the store 14 minutes early. The jury later awarded the plaintiff $3,769,128 in damages.
Hayes v. SkyWest Airlines: An employee had kidney disease and had to spend 9 hours per night on dialysis. He later had to resign from his position for health reasons and returned to his former position, which did not require him to perform strenuous physical tasks. Plaintiff took the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave and returned to find out the lower position no longer existed. Subsequently, he was fired. The jury in this case awarded the employee $2,500,000.
Timothy Patrick Green v. The City Of South Pasadena: After giving 18 years to the force, in which he was described by his superiors as the “best” when it came to community policing, a police officer was fired because of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). He alleged that he was not given reasonable accommodation. The department offered a bogus reason as to his firing – because he failed to give a citation to someone who was speeding years earlier. While the department initially offered $25,000 to settle, the officer made a smart move and rejected that offer. The jury later awarded the officer $4,800,000.
EEOC v. United Parcel Serv., Inc. In 2009, UPS was sued for Disability Discrimination because of certain policies regarding their maximum leave policies. The policy failed to provide employees with reasonable accommodations and maintained an “inflexible” clause that automatically fired employees when they reached 12 months of leave, without an interactive process. The case settled for over $2,000,000, with the proceeds going to over 90 employees.
EEOC v. IDEX Corporation: A manager for a fluidics based company who had successfully performed his job was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. The manager continued to perform his job well, even while undergoing treatment. During the period of his treatment, however, supervisors repeatedly asked the manager invasive questions about his illness and questioned his ability to perform job tasks. The manager was eventually fired because of his disability and the company decided to settle the case for $380,000.
An employee failed to provide medical documentation to prove she was not HIV-positive, and was then fired when she failed to provide such documentation. The manager approached the employee and informed her that she had “heard” she was HIV-positive. The employer twice demanded that the employee provide documentation to show she was not HIV-positive because she thought the diagnosis would hurt business. The employee was then fired; however the parties agreed to settle the case for $139,000.
EEOC v. UPCO, Inc.: A manufacturer of sucker rods and accessories for the oil and gas industry offered a temporary employee a full-time position so long as she passed a third-party medical examination. The third party medical examiner refused to grant her approval because of the side of effects a certain medication she was taking, even though her personal doctor wrote a letter stating that her medication would not impair her ability to do her job. The manufacturer decided to settle the case for $106,000.00.
Talk to a Los Angeles Disability Discrimination Lawyer today. We offer free consultations and you pay nothing unless we win.
The lawyers at Miracle Mile Law Group are specially trained in handling disability discrimination lawsuits. If you believe you have been discriminated against because of your disability, or if your boss is unreasonably denying you the reasonable accommodations you are legally entitled to, contact a Los Angeles disability discrimination attorney today. Having a lawyer by your side when trying to prove that you have been discriminated against due to your disability is essential. The lawyers here at Miracle Mile Law Group are trained at identifying what to look for when going up against your employer. These cases are very time sensitive so give us a call at (888) 244-0706 or contact us online for a FREE case evaluation. Remember, we do not take a single dollar unless WE WIN!

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