How Can a Disability Discrimination Lawyer Help You?
No one is perfect. Your employer certainly isn’t. If you need accommodations to work due to a disability, your employer should meet these requirements promptly. If they cannot, then you may be facing disability discrimination.
Discrimination isn’t always the case. Occasionally, an employer isn’t legally obligated to accommodate your disability. This is where a disability discrimination lawyer comes into play.
The First Step
Before you do anything else, it’s important you stay on top of your employer about making the necessary changes you need. If you do not inform an employer of your needs, they cannot help accommodate you.
After you have made a formal request, you’ll also want to remind your employer a few times. While having your needs adequately accommodated is of utmost importance to you, the company is probably still focused on making money. So stay on them.
What is Disability Discrimination?
Before you take legal action against what you believe to be a negligent employer, it’s important to understand what makes a case and when you need a disability discrimination lawyer.
If an employer treats you differently or less favorably than other employees due to a disability, then you are being discriminated against, and the employer is in violation of the law. This is due to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
It’s important to note that not every single mental ailment or physical issue is considered a “disability” by the ADA. You must be able to perform the job or meet the essential duties of the job with reasonable accommodation.
What Does It Mean to Be Disabled?
With regards to the ADA, you are considered disabled if you cannot walk, sit, hear, see or have a condition that affects a major life activity. This list of “major life activities” is long and growing continually. A disability discrimination lawyer can help you determine if your condition limits you and the ADA protects you.
Must Be Qualified
You cannot claim disability discrimination is you’re not qualified to do the job in the first place. You must have the experience, education or skills required for the job beforehand. You should be able to perform the vast majority of the essential duties of the job with or without accommodation.
“Reasonable” Accommodation
Another huge part of any case for a disability discrimination lawyer is the “reasonable” aspect of accommodation. Your disability cannot impose undue burden on an employer.
For instance, a reasonable accommodation would be voice-activated software for an employee that is visually impaired. Another reasonable accommodation would be offering numerous break times to an employee with diabetes in order to facilitate insulin shots.
An unreasonable accommodation would do unjust financial harm to a company to facilitate the needs of a disabled person.
Covered Employees
The ADA also has limits on company size and making reasonable accommodations. Companies who have less than 15 employees are not covered by the ADA. However, this law does vary state by state. A disability discrimination lawyer can help you determine the company size limit in your city and state.
