Enforcing the Disability Rights of California Employees

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibit employers from discriminating against disabled employees. In addition, both California and federal law require employers to engage in an interactive process with disabled employees to determine whether they can provide necessary reasonable accommodations to enable the employees to perform their job, or another open job for which they are qualified. The ADA and FEHA also may require employers to provide disabled employees with medical leaves of absence above and beyond the leave provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and California Family Rights Act (CFRA).

At Rukin Hyland Doria & Tindall in San Francisco, California, we help disabled employees understand and enforce their rights in the workplace.

What Qualifies as a Disability?

California's FEHA provides more job protection to disabled employees than the federal ADA by broadly defining a qualified disability. Under the FEHA, a covered disability is any physical or mental impairment that limits (makes difficult) one or more major life activities such as caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, working, hearing or speaking. Some types of physical and mental disabilities which may be protected include:

• Quadriplegia, paralysis, spinal disorders and other mobility impairments
• Blindness, deafness and other vision or hearing impairments
• Cognitive and learning disabilities
• Epilepsy, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and other chronic illnesses
• HIV, AIDs and other serious health conditions
• Psychiatric conditions, including depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia and mental illnesses

What is Disability Discrimination?

It is illegal to discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities in almost any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, job applications, the interviewing process, advancement and promotions, compensation, wages and benefits, job training, and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment. The law also protects persons who are perceived as have a physical or mental disability but who are not actually disabled.

An Employer's Duty to Provide Reasonable Accommodations to Disabled Employees

Sometimes disabled workers are qualified to perform a job, but need a little help to be able to do so. If needed and requested, an employer must provide a reasonable accommodation — an adjustment or job modification that allows the employee to do the job — to a qualified employee with a disability unless the employer can demonstrate that doing so would create an undue hardship (significant expense or difficulty).

Examples of a reasonable accommodation could include:

• Job restructuring, such as having another employee occasionally lift heavy items for a worker with lifting restrictions
• Modified work schedules, such as allowing an employee to come in later and leave later in order to attend chemotherapy appointments
• Buying new equipment or modifying equipment to make it accessible
• Changes in the workplace, such as ramps, accessible doors, restrooms, and modified work stations
• A leave of absence to obtain medical treatment or to allow the employee to recuperate and return to work

In order to determine whether an accommodation is possible, employers must engage in a good faith interactive process with disabled employees. The interactive process requires both employers and employees to exchange information regarding the employee's ability to work and potential accommodations the employer may be able to provide. Therefore, it is important for employees to obtain advice early in the process, to ensure that they meet their own obligations under the law.

Rukin Hyland Doria & Tindall's disability rights lawyers are dedicated to advocating for disabled employees in discrimination, harassment, accommodation, and access claims.

If you feel that you have been the victim of discrimination, or been denied accommodation or access in connection with an actual or perceived physical or mental disability, please contact the disability rights attorneys of Rukin Hyland Doria & Tindall, for a consultation.