disability discrimination

Federal Jury Awards $5.2 Million in Employment Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

October 11, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

With a developmental disability, visual impairment and deafness, he employed for 16 years as a cart pusher at a retail giant. Now, he’s been awarded $5.2 million in an employment disability discrimination lawsuit.

As our Orange County disability discrimination attorneys understand it, the man had been receiving a number of workplace accommodations pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which allowed him to be successful in his role. One of those accommodations was a job coach, paid for by federal disability funding.

His condition had not changed. What did change, The Associated Press, was that new manager came on-board. According to the complaint in EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, within just a month of the new manager taking charge, the worker was suspended and forced to resubmit the medical paperwork that allowed him access to reasonable accommodations. Continue Reading ›

People With Autism Vulnerable to Workplace Discrimination

September 30, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

People diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can make excellent employees. However, many are denied opportunities – for a job, for advancement, for benefits and more. Disability discrimination is all too often a daily occurrence for those with ASD, especially because the spectrum is so broad and the condition still not well understood.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an estimated 1 in 59 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with autism annually, a figure that has steadily increased in recent years.

As our Los Angeles workplace disability discrimination attorneys can explain, the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, ban disability-based discrimination in employment.

Discrimination is understood to mean that a qualified job applicant or employee is treated unfavorably by a job applicant because of his or her disability. Continue Reading ›

Longtime Newspaperman Wins $15M+ in Los Angeles Age Discrimination Lawsuit

August 19, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

A long-running legal battle between the Los Angeles times and one of its sports writers concluded recently when a jury in Los Angeles was awarded more than $15 million in damages for age discrimination and disability discrimination. The claim was first filed six years ago, according to The Washington Post.

Plaintiff, a sports reporter for the Times, suffered a small stroke while covering a spring training in Arizona. He was also later diagnosed with chronic migraines. After this, the newspaper slashed his three-times-a-week column down to two. The reasoning given by the newspaper was that the columns were not well-written and resulted in a poor reflection on the newspaper. The columns he did produce were subsequently more heavily scrutinized than ever.

A few months later, he was suspended, demoted to reporter and resigned – all over a video surfaced that the Times asserted showed a conflict of interest. Plaintiff argued he never had a business relationship with the producer. Plaintiff then went to work for a competitor newspaper before filing his lawsuit, alleging he’d been the victim of workplace age discrimination and disability discrimination. Continue Reading ›

Invisible Disabilities and Workplace Discrimination in California

May 11, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

When it comes to disability discrimination in the workplace, many presume it is for the obvious or perceived disabilities – a genetic condition like Down syndrome or a traumatic injury that leaves one scarred or with lower physical capacity. Los Angeles disability discrimination lawyers, however, know that invisible disabilities can affect individuals too.

Workplace discrimination for these conditions usually comes in the form of assumptions of one’s ability based on stigma or the failure to understand why certain conditions require the treatment they do.

Some of the workplace disability cases our employment attorneys have taken on include:

Mild traumatic brain injuries
Attention hyperactivity disorder
Dyslexia
Fibromyalgia
Lupus
High-functioning autism
Multiple sclerosis
Heart problems

Workers with disabilities are protected against workplace discrimination by two primary federal laws: The Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In order to be covered by these protections, workers are required to disclose their disabilities, which we realize can be a tough decision. The truth of the matter is, discrimination often follows disclosure.

Invisible disability can impact both a person’s employment and financial future. Continue Reading ›

Disability Discrimination in Hiring: What California Job Applicants Need to Know

April 17, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

Employment discrimination against workers and applicants with disabilities unfortunately remains an all-too-common reality, despite California and federal law prohibiting such practices. Statutes require companies to give fair consideration of applicants regardless of disability, so long as the individual can perform essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodations. Proving disability discrimination, however, can sometimes be difficult though because, as our Los Angeles disability discrimination employment attorneys can explain, employers aren’t always blatant about it.

Report: Teen Refused Job by Manager Who Explained, “We Don’t Hire People With Disabilities”

Not so for an incident recently reported by a 19-year-old Virginia man with cerebral palsy. As reported by a local television station, the recent high school graduate explained he arrived for a scheduled interview or an associate position at a home decor retail store. He’d confirmed the appointment via text message before arrival. However when he got there, he said the store manager took one look at him and stated, “Oh, no, we don’t hire people with disabilities.”

Talk to a Private L.A. Employment Attorney Even if Required to Start With EEOC

March 30, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

There are many types of Los Angeles employment discrimination cases wherein you, the worker, must first file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before you are free to take your case to court. Yet there is no requirement indicating you can’t hire a private employment attorney, and the truth is, you may be entitled to more than the EEOC will provide. When you discuss this possibility with a job discrimination attorney ahead of time, you’ll be able to glean some guidance on what to report, what evidence to bring and suggestions for wording your complaint in ways that could give you a stronger stance.

This may be especially important in light of the recent findings of a dual-published report by the Center for Public Integrity and VOX, indicating that the EEOC may not have enough personnel to adequately investigate each claim.

Report: EEOC Falls Short in Settling Discrimination Claims

Race discrimination claims are among the most commonly-filed. In fact, black workers alleging racial discrimination comprised 25 percent of all EEOC claims, which is notable because there are many different kinds of discrimination. Only 15 percent of those are resolved with some compensation being returned to the complainants. Continue Reading ›

Federal Law Requires Workplace Accommodation for PTSD

March 23, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

A man who survived the deadliest shooting in U.S. history – and watched his father-in-law gunned down before his eyes (his wife’s aunt and cousin were among the wounded at the concert) – has filed a lawsuit alleging his employer discriminated against him by failing to accommodate his mental health condition when he returned to work. Los Angeles workplace discrimination attorneys can explain that while employers aren’t expected to provide opportunities for accommodation when a person can’t do what’s necessary to complete the core functions of the job, reasonable accommodations that don’t impose an undue hardship on the company are mandated by federal law.

The American Psychiatric Association first identified post-traumatic stress disorder as a named condition in 1952, though references to it date at least all the way back to ancient Greek literature. The reality is, it’s not uncommon for an individual to experience a traumatic event, and the APA estimates roughly 7-8 percent of all Americans suffer from PTSD. About 10 percent of women and 4 percent of men while experience PTSD in their lifetimes. It can afflict people who have seen the front lines of a war, but also those impacted by natural disasters, mass shooting casualties and interpersonal violence. PTSD rates are higher among soldiers than the general population, but the condition affects far more than military personnel.

Unless a person applying for accommodation requires some form of workplace accommodation during the application or interview process, he or she need not disclose a disability to an employer upfront. Disabilities only need to be disclosed when an employee requires accommodation to perform an essential function of the job. Continue Reading ›

Facebook Vows to Block Discriminatory Employment Advertisements

March 15, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

It is illegal – in California and across the U.S., per the EEOC – to discriminate against a job applicant based on their race, color, religion, gender (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy) national origin, age (over 40), disability or genetic information. Yet one of the most frequently-used forums to lure new hires has essentially been facilitating just that, according to critics and a few employment lawsuits filed by the National Fair Housing Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Communication Workers of America.

Social media giant Facebook has faced years of criticism that it allowed companies advertising job listings to use key categories allowing employers to cherry-pick who their ads would be shown to based on age group, gender and race. The New York Times now reports Facebook has agreed it will stop doing this.

It’s not just prospective employees that have been complaining either. Those advertising credit and housing have also been allowed to screen their ads so that they would only show to a certain subset of social media users. (Housing and credit are also regulated by federal anti-discrimination laws that bar selection of applicants on such bases.) Continue Reading ›

California Cancer Discrimination: Employer Can’t Terminate on Basis of Diagnosis

February 26, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

A cancer diagnosis is often one of the most pivotal points in a person’s life, not only because it causes one to face possible mortality, but because it is expensive and often impedes a person’s ability to work and/or care for their family. However, it should not be the basis on which you’re fired. If you believe it is, an Orange County cancer discrimination attorney can help you determine whether you have a viable case and lay out your legal options.

Rarely will an employer say, “We’re cutting your hours because you have cancer.” Instead, they will look for other excuses. They will say accommodations aren’t possible without hardship (when that’s not really true). They will say you weren’t performing according to company standards – even if you’ve had great annual reviews until that point. Sometimes they’ll start giving you poor reviews to leave a paper trail so they have a leg to stand on. This is why from the moment you suspect an issue, you should start documenting everything too.

Late last year, a Catholic school tried to argue that it had terminated a 5th grade teacher following her cancer diagnosis/revelation she’d be absent much of the school year because of something called the ministerial exception. This is not to be confused with ministerial v. discretionary duties, for which dispute can arise when civil tort plaintiffs suing government agencies for negligent acts/omissions by employees want the court to find the employees’ duties were “ministerial,” as in directed by the government absent their own discretion, making the government liable. In this case, Biel v. St. James School, the question was whether the teacher was a religious ministerial employee.

Why would this matter for someone with breast cancer? Continue Reading ›

What is a “Protected Class” in Los Angeles Employment Discrimination Lawsuit?

February 20, 2019 | by Nassiri Law

In order to be successful in claiming employment discrimination in California, employees must first assert they are part of a protected class that received unfair treatment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) explains that to discriminate means to treat someone less favorably and disparately, with federal protections extending to individuals on the basis of gender, religion, color, race, national origin, disability or age (over 40). In California, unlawful practices spelled out by the Fair Employment and Housing Act 12940 outlines protections for these classes, but also for:

Genetic information
Marital status
Gender identity/gender expression
Sexual orientation
Military or veteran status

Part of the reason California’s additional protected classes matter is they go farther than federal law, giving unfairly-treated employees more options to pursue action.

As Los Angeles employment discrimination attorneys can explain, “protected classes” aren’t merely limited to minorities. But employment discrimination is often subtle – and doesn’t necessarily need to actually be a part of a protected class in order to be protected. Discrimination based on the perception of belonging or association with others in these classes can be actionable in California employment discrimination cases too.

Perceived Protected Class Employment Discrimination Continue Reading ›