disability discrimination

Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highways Express – Associational Disability Discrimination

May 11, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A sharply divided California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight, issued a decision allowing a plaintiff to proceed with his associational disability discrimination claim against his employer. This was a reversal of the trial court’s opinion in Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highways Express Inc., wherein a father alleged he was fired for his need to assist his disabled son.

This kind of “association” discrimination is outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which bars discrimination against an employee based on their association or relationship with an individual who has a known disability. The provision in 42 U.S.C. 12112(b)(4) means a company is forbidden from taking adverse action against a worker simply for associating with or having a relationship with someone who is disabled.

Under the ADA, companies are required to give qualified workers with disabilities reasonable accommodations. However, federal courts have held in prior cases (see Tyndall, 4th Cir. 1994, Overly, 6th Cir. 2006) that this association discrimination provision doesn’t mean workers are entitled to employment modifications in order to care for a disabled spouse or child. Continue Reading ›

New Football Stadium Jobs Promise Might Not Be as Good as Advertised

February 21, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

There has been a lot of news coverage about the Rams moving to Los Angeles and about the new L.A. Rams Stadium. According to a recent news feature from the Los Angles Times, those in support of building the new stadium with taxpayer dollars said that the project would create nearly 10,500 full-time and part-time jobs. This number is not supposed to include the many construction jobs that will be created as the new stadium is being built.

However, some think that these promises of new jobs are not all they are cracked up to be. A recent lawsuit was filed against the company that has a contract to sell all concessions at Levi’s Stadium. Levi’s Stadium is located in Santa Clara and is the stadium where the Super Bowl was just held. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the many low-income workers who accuse their employer of regularly committing labor law violations and taking advantage of them. Continue Reading ›

McDonalds Sued for Disability Discrimination by EEOC

January 3, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

McDonalds has been subject to lawsuits for a variety of different violations of employment law. One of the latest cases claims McDonald’s has engaged in disability discrimination. National Law Review reported on the case against McDonalds, which has been filed by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

LA County Metro Aims to Hire more Female Workers

December 15, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news feature from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Los Angeles Country Transportation Authority (Metro) is planning to do a lot of construction work in the near future, and they expect many of the new workers to be women.

Technically, Metro will not be doing any of the construction on the five new major rail projects, because they will be awarding bids to general contractors, and these contractors will then hire employees to do the actual work. However, Metro does control the contracting process, and the agreements all require general contractors to employ at least the minimum percentage of female workers as outlined in the agreement. They could, of course, hire more than the minimum number of female employees required, and that would be perfectly fine with Metro. Continue Reading ›

Employee Questions about Using Medical Marijuana at Work

October 14, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

The San Francisco Examiner recently invited readers to submit questions about concerns they may have involving their employment situations. One of the questions being asked more often and was submitted to the news outlet was what happens if a worker takes medical marijuana for anxiety and is also looking for a job. The person who submitted the question stated she does not drive a bus and does not engage in any hazardous activities or operate heavy machinery. The worker is also concerned because the employer has stated it does random drug tests. Continue Reading ›

Recent Change to California Employment Law

September 5, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

While some aspects of the law and legal doctrine date back more than 1,000 years ago, when empires were fighting each other in Western Europe, a good portion of our laws and our legal system are constantly evolving based upon the will of the people and the actions of legislative bodies.

For this reason, is it important to review all recent changes to the law from time-to-time. A news article from The National Law Review takes a look at recent changes to employment law in the state of California. One of the recent changes was that the word “alien” has been removed from the California Labor Code. Continue Reading ›

Burton v. Freescale – Retaliation for Workers’ Compensation Claims

August 8, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Employees who file workers’ compensation claims may run the risk of possible retaliation by employers who want to avoid paying the associated costs. The majority of states have laws that prohibit companies from lashing out against workers who have filed workers’ compensation claims.

Workers seeking to prove retaliation have to show:

He or she was an employee entitled to receive benefits under California’s workers’ compensation law;
He or she took some protected action (i.e., filing a workers’ compensation claim)
He or she suffered an adverse employment action (i.e., termination, denial of promotion, etc.)
The employer was motivated to carry out this adverse action by employee engaging in protected activity.

It’s not an easy threshold to meet, and that’s why having an experienced employment lawyer on your side can be critical. Continue Reading ›

Can you Get Fired for Using Medical Marijuana?

June 24, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Legalization of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes has been occurring in states across the county. While people can now use medical cannabis, or even use marijuana recreationally in more places than ever before, without the fear of being arrested, there are new issues involving employment consequences for employees who test positive for marijuana.

One case that has been making headlines involved a recent decision by the Colorado Supreme Court, which ruled that a business has the right to terminate employees who use marijuana during non-working time, even if those employees have a current and valid prescription for medical cannabis use, according to a recent news article from the Los Angeles Times. While this may make sense to some, including members of Colorado’s highest court, it is dissimilar from other employment law decisions. Continue Reading ›

California Workers’ Compensation Bill Leads to Debate

May 20, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

The workers’ compensation system in California is a very complex process. While it tries to take into account every possible contingency in such a way as to balance workers’ rights and need for quick access to benefits with employers’ need for a way to predict workers’ compensation expenses, from time to time the system will need a major overhaul to keep it up-to-date with changing times and economic conditions.

To this end, California state legislators and Governor Jerry Brown passed a piece of legislation, which provided for somewhat sweeping changes to the state’s workers’ compensation act about three years ago. Many saw these changes as favoring employers and insurance companies, causing a disadvantage to providers of medical care for injured workers and rehabilitation providers, and, in turn, harming many disabled workers, even though it was designed to provide more cash benefits to workers.

Since the bill was enacted, there have been reports of a five percent drop in medical claims associated with workers’ compensation petitions. This has undoubtedly upset medical providers around the state, and they have pushed for new changes to the state workers’ compensation act. A newly proposed piece of legislation entitled Senate Bill 563 aims to address their concerns. According to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee, State Senator Richard Pan, a physician himself, wishes to take away some of the teeth from the utilization review required to approve any medical treatments as absolutely necessary prior to awarding disability benefits to pay for those medical treatments. Continue Reading ›

Jobs Suitable for Persons With Autism

May 15, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Despite the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other state and federal anti-discrimination employment laws, it still remains difficult for people diagnosed with autism and other intellectual disabilities to obtain employment, and, if they do, to keep their jobs.

A recent news feature from the San Francisco Gate looks at what jobs people with autism can not only do, but also can excel at. This article was written after author attended a workshop for people living with autism and their family members.

One of the main questions asked by the audience is what kinds of jobs have people with autism been successful at in the past. The answer to this question, according to the speaker, depends on how a particular person with autism learns. She describes people with autism as learning either as a visual thinker, a pattern thinker, or a word fact thinker. Continue Reading ›