Even if you have a disability that impacts your daily life, you still have a right to work and contribute to society. The primary state law that protects you from disability discrimination is the Fair Employment and Housing Act, which prohibits employers from engaging in discriminatory acts based on your actual or perceived physical conditions or mental disabilities. If you believe that you have been treated unfairly at your job because of your disability, contact a San Diego disability discrimination lawyer at Jimenez Loayza, APC for a free confidential consultation.
What Is a Disability?
Every employee in the state has the right to work in an environment free from discrimination or harassment of any kind. In the hiring process, employers may not leverage an applicant’s personally protected characteristics against them when making hiring decisions. Employers are also prohibited from showing preferential treatment or excess adverse treatment of their employees on the basis of these personal characteristics.
Under California law, disability protections extend to individuals who have any of the following:
- Physical disability – A physical disability affects the major systems and limits a primary life activity. This can include a disfigurement, a medical disorder, or a medical condition that affects a key component of human anatomy, impacts one of the body’s essential systems, and restricts a major life activity.
- Mental disability – A psychological condition may be considered a mental disability when it limits a major life activity.
- Medical condition – Health issues related to a cancer-related impairment, disease, or genetic trait are protected under the FEHA.
- History of disability – The FEHA also extends protections to individuals who have a history or record of previous disabilities, even if they are not currently disabled.
- Perceived disabilities – Protections also extend to individuals who are perceived as having any of the above disabilities even if they do not actually have them.
At the federal level, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits US employers from engaging in any type of discrimination against individuals who have any such disabilities or on the basis of their belief that an individual is disabled. Many disability discrimination cases arise pertaining to the hiring process in which viable candidates are disregarded on the basis of their disabilities. Other cases pertain to illegal mistreatment within a work environment.
If you are unsure whether your specific condition qualifies as a disability under state and/or federal laws, consult a San Diego disability discrimination lawyer as quickly as possible. The state upholds some of the broadest employee protections in the United States when it comes to employee disabilities and the rights of employees in all industries. If you have grounds for a claim, you need to start building it as quickly as possible.
Examples of Disability Discrimination
Disability discrimination can take on many forms, some more obvious than others. Some examples of prohibited disability discrimination in the workplace include:
- Refusing to hire an applicant because of their disability. Employers have the right to turn down applicants at their discretion, but an applicant’s disability status cannot be the determining factor in such decisions.
- Refusing to promote an employee because of their disability. Showing any type of discriminatory treatment on the basis of disability is a violation of both state and federal workplace discrimination laws.
- Firing a worker because of their disability. Firing on the basis of protected personal characteristics is wrongful termination.
- Paying workers with disabilities less than able-bodied workers.
- Restricting the terms, benefits, or conditions of employment because of an actual or perceived disability.
It is possible for discrimination to evolve into more complex and more damaging legal issues. For example, if you have worked for your employer for some time and suffered an injury resulting in a disability, you may notice your employer’s behavior toward you change in various ways. If a hostile work environment develops, or if you are fired shortly after your employer discovers your condition, it can lead to a very difficult employment law case.
Proving that any mistreatment from an employer was directly spurred by disability discrimination can be challenging. Parties that knowingly engage in disability discrimination in any capacity generally take steps to conceal their true motivations for their decisions, or they may develop excuses for the job-related decisions they make pertaining to disabled applicants or employees.
Many people working in the state also assume that the state’s at-will employment law gives employers the flexibility to terminate employment whenever they choose to do so. While at-will employment laws do provide broad leeway for employers to fire employees at their discretion, they cannot fire employees for illegal reasons. If you have experienced wrongful termination or mistreatment that you believe was due to your disability status, you need to speak to a lawyer.
Ultimately, if your employer has made any job-related decision based on your disability status, it can form grounds for a disability discrimination claim in the state. While many of these cases follow a similar framework as what one might expect with other types of workplace discrimination, there are also special laws in place aimed specifically at disabled employees and their employers’ obligations to them.
Reasonable Accommodations
Employers are generally required to offer reasonable accommodations to employees or applicants who have a disability if this would enable them to perform the essential tasks required of the position. Each case must be handled on an individual basis, so what is considered a reasonable accommodation in one situation may not be in another.
Employers and employees must cooperate in an interactive process to find a suitable accommodation that addresses both of their needs. A failure to reasonably accommodate an employee with a disability is determined by reviewing the specific circumstances involving the accommodation request, including:
- The individual factors
- The specifics of the employee’s health-related limitations
- The position
- Which tasks related to the job are considered essential
- The impact of the proposed accommodation on the workplace and other employees.
- The cost of the proposed accommodation.
The employer is not required to provide every accommodation an employee requests. Additionally, the employer may not have to provide a potential accommodation if doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer. The term “undue hardship” is somewhat vague, but it generally means that it would be an undue hardship if a requested accommodation would be unreasonably expensive or disrupt operations.
Negotiations are sometimes necessary to resolve reasonable accommodation requests. For example, an employee may make a request for an accommodation, and their employer may offer a counterproposal for an alternative solution. This would not be a violation of the reasonable accommodation requirement. However, if a proposed solution does not impose undue hardship and the employer refuses to provide it, then this would be a clear violation.
Employment Claims for Disability Discrimination
Employees or applicants who were discriminated against because of their disability can file a claim with California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Time is limited to make a claim, so it’s important to work with a disability discrimination lawyer in San Diego to show you have exhausted all administrative options before you can file a suit.
All employers in the state are required to have internal conflict resolution policies in place meant to address claims of employment discrimination and other mistreatment in the workplace. If you believe you have been mistreated at work on the basis of your disability or a perceived disability, you should raise the issue with your employer immediately. If they cannot provide a suitable resolution, then you must speak with an attorney.
What to Expect From Your San Diego Disability Discrimination Lawyer
Filing a disability discrimination case in San Diego can be challenging. You may not know what evidence you need to prove you were the victim of discrimination or how to obtain this information. It is also possible to encounter disability discrimination in many ways. For example, filing a case pertaining to discrimination in the hiring process is very different from filing a case pertaining to wrongful termination on the basis of disability discrimination.
Jimenez Loayza, APC, has extensive professional experience handling a wide range of discrimination cases for clients in San Diego and surrounding areas. When you choose our firm to represent you, trust us to gather all of the supporting evidence you will need for your case. We can also prepare you for any potential interactions with state or federal oversight agencies involved in the case.
If you have grounds to claim compensation for damages, our firm will do everything we can to maximize your compensation. You may have the ability to seek repayment of lost income and lost benefits, and you may also have grounds to claim compensation for the emotional suffering you experienced because of the mistreatment you faced at work. Punitive damages could also come into play at the discretion of the court, and you could recover your legal expenses as well.
Your case is likely to involve interactions with state and/or federal agencies responsible for overseeing employers and their treatment of applicants and employees. This may be daunting, but having the right attorney on your side enables you to approach the situation with greater confidence. Jimenez Loayza, APC, has helped many past clients resolve all types of discrimination cases, and we can apply this experience to your case.
Contact an Experienced San Diego Disability Discrimination Attorney for Help
If you believe you were discriminated against because of your disability, it is critical to work with a San Diego employment attorney who is experienced in handling these types of claims. The legal team at Jimenez Loayza, APC is here to help you. Contact us today for a free confidential consultation to review the details of your case.