Woodland Hills Legal Counsel For Disability Discrimination

You deserve to be treated with dignity and respect at your workplace. Sadly, not all employers in California treat their workers the way they should. If you become a victim of disability discrimination at your workplace, state and federal antidiscrimination laws can help protect you in these situations. As the sole employment law attorney at Turk Law Firm, I am here to help you uphold your rights and level the playing field when you are facing disability discrimination at work.

For more information on what I can do for you and how I can support you, please call my office at 818-962-7586.

What Is Considered Disability Discrimination?

By definition, disability discrimination occurs when an employee or job applicant is mistreated because they have a disability. In order to successfully sue an employer for disability discrimination, you must prove that:

• You have a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)
• You were qualified for the position
• The employment decisions were made because of your disability

If you believe you were the victim of disability discrimination, I am here to walk you through each step of pursuing a claim and to help you gather the necessary evidence to prove discrimination in court.

What Disability Discrimination Can Look Like In California

Disability discrimination can present itself when employers:

• Refuse to hire someone based on their disability status.
• Pay an employee less than others due to a perceived disability.
• Refuse to provide reasonable accommodations when an employee requests them.
• Retaliate or start treating an employee differently after they disclose a disability.
• Create a hostile work environment for people with disabilities, such as sharing jokes or making derogatory comments about people with disabilities.
• Refuse to provide assistance equipment for employees with disabilities, even if doing so doesn’t cause undue hardship.

If you are beginning to question whether you are a victim of disability discrimination by your employer, please reach out. I can help walk you through your situation and take appropriate action.

Guidelines For Disability Discrimination In California

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) establishes guidelines for preventing disability discrimination in the workplace and facilitating continued employment for the disabled employee. The FEHA outlines only two situations where an employer may legally discriminate against an employee based on their disability:

• The disability prevents the employee from being able to perform the essential functions of the job, and reasonable accommodations to enable the employee to perform the job do not exist
• The disability would cause the person to create danger to himself/herself or others by performing the job, and there is no reasonable accommodation that could remove or reduce the danger

Before an employer can terminate a disabled employee on these grounds, they must first examine all reasonable accommodations. An accommodation is considered reasonable if it does not impose an undue business hardship on the employer (it is the employer’s burden to prove all elements of the “undue business hardship” defense). Reasonable accommodations include things like providing mechanical aids, modifying work duties, relocating the work area and, as a last resort, a leave of absence with a date certain for return. If all else fails, an employer must preferentially reassign and an employee to an alternative vacant position for which they are qualified.

Contact The Turk Law Firm To Discuss Filing A Discrimination Claim

If you believe that you have been discriminated against at work or in applying for a job because of your disability, you may qualify for compensation. To discuss your possible claim, call 818-962-7586 or fill out my online contact form to set up a free initial consultation.