Santa Clarita Disability Discrimination Lawyer

Disability discrimination should never be tolerated. In the workplace, accommodations made by the employer are necessary for supporting disabled employees. However, employers sometimes refuse to make these changes or retaliate against employees for being disabled. In these instances, contacting a disability discrimination lawyer to file a claim is necessary. For those in Santa Clarita, Nosratilaw, A Professional Law Corporation can help you get started on your claim.

What Is Disability Discrimination?

The poor treatment or harassment of someone because of a medical condition or mental impairment is known as disability discrimination. The state of California forbids companies with five or more workers from discriminating against a worker based on a physical or mental handicap, a medical condition, or a genetic condition during the hiring process. Employers are legally required to make accommodations for employees who need them to perform their jobs. The only exception is if the process would be disproportionately challenging or expensive.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal law, and the Fair Employment and Housing Act, a state law, protect disabled workers in California. An official goal of the ADA is to establish clear guidelines for how to appropriately accommodate disabled personnel. The ADA forbids discrimination against people with disabilities who can carry out a job’s essential functions, even if they require reasonable and justifiable accommodations to do so.

California’s counterpart to the ADA is known as the Fair Employment and Housing Act, or FEHA. Its goal is to give employees recourse and get rid of specific discriminatory behaviors experienced in the workplace. Employers with more than five staff members are prohibited under the FEHA from discriminating against employees based on physical or mental impairments, illnesses, or genetic information, just as they are under the ADA.

What Disabilities Are Covered by the ADA and FEHA?

Having a physiological condition that prevents you from engaging in key life activities can be counted as a disability under both the ADA and FEHA. These include:

• Working
• Speaking
• Walking
• Hearing
• Seeing
• Learning

Types of conditions that qualify for protection include:

• Illness
• Disorder
• Anatomical loss
• Anatomical loss

Some of the most common disabilities included in this list include:

• HIV/AIDS
• Hepatitis A, B, and C
• Epilepsy and seizure disorders
• Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease

There are several things that can lead your employer to believe you have a physical condition. They may believe that these can limit your ability to perform or complete your job. These include:

• Having previously had a disease or impairment, such as remission from cancer.
• Having a condition that could last six months or less, such as a broken limb, professionally diagnosed depression, stress, anxiety, pregnancy, ADHD/ADD, etc.
• Having a condition that leads to permanent impairment, like a traumatic brain injury that affects your speech or mobility.

Once these disabilities are revealed to your employer, you must go through the interactive process. Employees, managers, and their internal departments decide whether a reasonable accommodation may be granted for an employee. Both workers’ compensation claims and illnesses or injuries not directly related to employment are covered by the interactive process duty.

Examples of Disability Discrimination in the Workplace

Workplace discrimination can come in a variety of forms. It can be expressed verbally or through actions. Sometimes, these events can be very subtle. In other cases, instances of discrimination can include firings or flagrant displays of harassment. Some common examples of workplace disability discrimination can include:

• Firing an employee because of a disability
• Refusing to hire a candidate because of a disability
• Targeted harassment or discrimination related to a disability
• Refusing to accommodate an employee’s condition
• Discrimination based on the assumption that an employee is disabled

Knowing what counts as disability discrimination, as well as how to tell when other coworkers or management are targeting you or a coworker for their disability, is the first step towards properly handling these issues. In these situations, speaking to an employment lawyer about these instances is advised, especially if they lead to a firing in a wrongful termination situation.

Employment Law FAQs

Q: What counts as disability discrimination?

A: Examples of disability harassment include:

• Negative or insulting comments or statements regarding a person’s handicap
• Blatant favoritism shown to able-bodied employees over disabled employees
• Any verbal or physical acts based on an employee’s disability

For example, an employer or coworker jokes about another coworker’s use of a cane or wheelchair. That would be considered disability discrimination.

Q: What are three examples of disability discrimination?

A: Events that can be considered workplace disability discrimination include instances where an employer:

• Refuses to hire an employee because of their disability
• Mocks that disability through harassment or cruel jokes
• Fires an employee of a protected class because of their disability

If an employee is fired for having a disability, this can be treated as both disability discrimination and wrongful termination.

Q: What are my rights as a disabled person in California?

A: Disabled workers in California are protected by both federal and state laws. Employees with disabilities have a right to be protected from discrimination, unfair treatment, and wrongful termination. The law mandates that employees with disabilities have the same employment opportunities, opportunities for growth, compensation, and other amenities as individuals without disabilities.

Q: What is an example of disability discrimination?

A: Disability discrimination can happen at various stages of the employment process. For example, an employer plans on promoting a prominent employee. They later learn that the employee has HIV/AIDS. They then use this information to either deny the promotion or fire them. This would be a blatant example of disability discrimination.

Finding a Disability Discrimination Lawyer in Santa Clarita, CA

Your work is your livelihood. When this financial security is taken away or compromised without warning for a condition you cannot control, taking legal action is critical to giving you the support you need to get through these hard times. For those in Santa Clarita, Nosratilaw, A Professional Law Corporation can help you file a discrimination claim for the unfair treatment you face at work. For more information on our services, visit our website and contact us to schedule a case review with our legal team.