Proving Disability Discrimination in a California Workplace

Discrimination in the workplace is still prevalent despite the existence of federal and state laws that make these acts unlawful. The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the state Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) are two important laws that protect workers from discrimination and harassment.

These laws also include protection from discrimination for people with disabilities from acts such as the following:

• Denied from work or failure to hire due to disability
• Denied promotion, equal pay, benefits due to disability
• Failure to accommodate due to disability
• Terminated from work due to disability
• Being retaliated because of disability accommodation or request for accommodation

Under the law, employers are required to make reasonable accommodation to disabled employees to enable them to perform their job’s essential functions. This may be fulfilled by making some facilities accessible to disabled individuals, giving them part-time or modified work schedules or providing them with modified devices or equipment to allow them to work.

Although this is an employer’s duty, the effort to make reasonable accommodation to a disabled employee must not impose “undue hardship” on the employer. On the other hand, the employee must prove that the accommodation is reasonable both in cost and benefit to his employer.

Proving discrimination in the workplace may not be as easy as it may seem. Each discrimination case is pursued differently as cases vary according to discrimination types and issues such as age, national origin, sex, religion, race, among others.

In a disability discrimination case, several factors are taken into consideration.

1. The employee’s position – The employee must show that he is a member of a protective class or category (based on law) and he must have suffered an “adverse employment action”
2. The employer’s position – The employer must state the reasons and the circumstances of his actions
3. Proving pretext – The employee must show that the employer’s action was unreasonable

To pursue a claim for disability discrimination and prevail, an employee must prove three things:

• He must show proof of disability
• He is a “qualified individual” who can perform the essential functions of his job with or without reasonable accommodation
• He must show proof that he/she has been unlawfully discriminated because of his/her disability

Pursuing a disability discrimination claim may involve knowledge of complex laws and how these laws would apply to one specific case. In this case, one may need the assistance of an employment lawyer, one who has the skills and experience to prove one’s claim and prevail on it.