Americans with Disabilities Act

Answer:

Often, we get phone calls regarding employees that have questions about the ADA, also known as the American Disabilities Act. The ADA is actually a Federal law. It’s a Federal law that was passed to protect individuals with disabilities, both for work issues and non-work issues. While many people know or have heard of the ADA, it’s also important to know that for disabled employees in California there’s another statute called the Fair Employment and Housing Act. The Fair Employment and Housing Act protects employees who have been disabled, either at work or away from work. Now, the issue as to what’s a disability under the Fair Employment and Housing Act is a little bit of a different standard than under the ADA, so it’s important for you to hire an attorney or to find an attorney that can make a distinction between the ADA and the Fair Employment Housing Act, also known as FEHA. A lot of times in the employment setting for a disability claim under FEHA, an employee either has been injured at work and come back with work restrictions or has work restrictions for a non-work related injury. What happens is the employer is presented with a doctor’s note that says that either for a short period of time or for a long period of time an employee can’t do a certain task. By the time that they contact us or reach out to a law firm, it’s because the employers made the decision that, as a result of the work restrictions, they can’t accommodate the employee; as a result, they terminate the employee or they prevent the employee from doing certain aspects of their job that they know that they can do. If you’ve received work restrictions for a work-related injury or a non-work related injury, it’s important for you to understand that under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, just like under the ADA, you have rights. You have the right to continue working for your employer, as long as it’s not an undue burden on the employer. It’s important for you to understand under what circumstances the employer has to accommodate you so you can continue working. If you have questions regarding the ADA, the Fair Employment and Housing Act, or just questions about the fact that a doctor has given you restrictions and those restrictions are causing problems at work, it’s important for you to talk to an attorney about that. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call and we can discuss.