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A supervisor comments on your limp after you return from knee surgery. HR denies your request to work from home two days a week, even though your psychiatrist says it would help manage your anxiety. Your manager starts writing you up for attendance issues tied directly to chemotherapy appointments. You’re moved to a less desirable shift after disclosing your diabetes.
When workplace decisions start tracking your medical condition rather than your performance, you may be experiencing disability discrimination. California law and federal law both prohibit employers from treating workers unfairly because of disability, a history of disability, or even the perception that someone has a disability. A San Diego discrimination attorney at Haeggquist & Eck can help you understand your options.
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Key Takeaways for San Diego Disability Discrimination
- Disability discrimination includes adverse treatment based on physical conditions, mental health diagnoses, chronic illnesses, or even perceived disabilities
- California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) offers broader protection than the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—FEHA covers smaller employers (5+ employees vs. ADA’s 15+) and defines disability more expansively
- Reasonable accommodations are not optional favors; if you can perform essential job functions with a modification, your employer must engage in an interactive process to identify workable solutions unless doing so creates undue hardship
- Retaliation for requesting accommodations or reporting discrimination is illegal and may constitute separate legal violations
- Harassment based on disability violates California law, and you don’t have to endure offensive comments or exclusion because of a medical condition
What Counts as Disability Discrimination at Work in California?
Disability discrimination occurs when an employer treats a qualified employee or job applicant unfavorably because of a disability, a record of disability, or the belief that the person has a disability. This can show up in hiring decisions, promotions, pay, job assignments, benefits, discipline, or termination.
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act defines disability broadly. A disability is a physical or mental condition that limits a major life activity, like working, walking, thinking, communicating, sleeping, or caring for yourself. Chronic conditions like diabetes, arthritis, epilepsy, cancer, or HIV may count. Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and bipolar disorder may also qualify.
The law also protects people with a history of disability and those perceived as disabled.
Common Examples of Disability Discrimination
Workplace disability discrimination often appears in patterns rather than one dramatic event:
- Job duties and opportunities: Reassigning your best accounts, passing you over for promotion, or excluding you from projects after learning about your medical condition
- Documentation and discipline: Starting to document minor performance issues only after you return from medical leave or disclose a disability
- Social exclusion: Leaving you out of team meetings, training opportunities, or workplace events because colleagues feel uncomfortable around your service animal or medical equipment
- Stereotyping and assumptions: Making decisions about your capabilities based on visible disabilities rather than your actual performance
Moreover, these patterns can overlap. A supervisor who stereotypes your capabilities may also start documenting issues that never mattered before you disclosed your condition.
FEHA vs. ADA: Why California Law Matters More for San Diego Workers
Federal law provides baseline disability protections through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act goes further. FEHA applies to employers with five or more employees, while the ADA applies at 15.
FEHA also uses a more inclusive disability definition. The ADA requires that a condition substantially limit a major life activity, and federal courts have interpreted “substantially” narrowly at times. FEHA uses a broader standard: in California, a disability generally need only “limit” a major life activity. Conditions that might not meet the ADA threshold may still qualify under FEHA.
FEHA allows emotional distress damages without requiring physical injury, and California law permits larger punitive damage awards than federal law in many cases.
Reasonable Accommodations: What San Diego Employers Must Provide
A reasonable accommodation is a change to the job, work environment, or standard policies that allows someone with a disability to perform essential job functions. Accommodations level the playing field so disability doesn’t create artificial barriers to work.
Common reasonable accommodations include:
- Modified work schedules (starting later to account for medication side effects, leaving early for dialysis appointments)
- Remote work arrangements or hybrid schedules
- Reassignment to a vacant position you’re qualified to perform
- Paid or unpaid time off for medical treatment
- Ergonomic equipment, assistive technology, or modified workstations
- Job restructuring to remove or redistribute non-essential tasks
- Modified break schedules or rest periods
- Service animals where appropriate
Your employer does not have to eliminate essential functions of your job or create a new position. If you’re a delivery driver and your condition prevents driving, your employer likely doesn’t have to accommodate you in that specific role. But they may need to consider whether you could transfer to a warehouse position, customer service role, or another open job you’re qualified to perform.
The Interactive Process: How Accommodation Requests Work
The interactive process is the required back-and-forth conversation between you and your employer to identify effective accommodations. You initiate by disclosing your disability and need for accommodation. Your employer should then engage in a good-faith discussion about your limitations, potential accommodations, and how to implement them.
Failure to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process can violate FEHA. However, California courts have held that to succeed on an interactive-process claim, the employee generally must be able to identify a reasonable accommodation that was available at the time. Employers who ignore accommodation requests, refuse to discuss options, demand excessive medical documentation, or drag out the process for months may face liability.
Hypothetical Examples of Disability Discrimination in San Diego Workplaces
Disability discrimination rarely announces itself openly. It appears in decisions that look neutral on the surface but target disability directly.
Adverse Employment Actions Tied to Disability
A warehouse worker asks for a lifting restriction after spinal surgery. Instead of discussing temporary reassignment or other accommodations, the employer terminated him for his inability to perform essential functions. A nurse discloses lupus and requests occasional schedule flexibility for flare-ups. Her manager responds by cutting her hours and assigning her to less desirable shifts.
Attendance Policies Applied Rigidly
Many employers maintain point-based attendance systems that penalize absences. When those systems don’t account for disability-related absences, they can potentially violate FEHA. If your Crohn’s disease causes unpredictable absences and your employer fires you for exceeding attendance points, without considering medical leave or schedule modifications, that may be discrimination.
Return-to-Work Retaliation
You take FMLA or California Family Rights Act leave for major depression. When you return, your supervisor assigns you to less complex projects, questions your judgment in meetings, or starts documenting performance concerns that didn’t exist before your leave.
Harassment and Hostile Environment
Co-workers mock your tremor caused by Parkinson’s disease. Your manager makes comments like “Are you sure you can handle this?” after you disclose your epilepsy. Colleagues exclude you from lunch outings or team events because your wheelchair makes logistics “complicated.” Disability-based harassment that is severe or pervasive enough to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment violates California law.
Perceived Disability Discrimination
Your employer sees you using a knee brace after a minor injury and assumes you’re unable to perform certain job functions, passing you over for a promotion that involves occasional site visits. You’re not disabled under FEHA’s definition, but your employer treated you as though you were, and that could be enough.
Failure to Accommodate Mental Health Conditions
Anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, and other mental health diagnoses qualify as disabilities when they substantially limit (ADA) or limit (FEHA) major life activities. Employers who refuse to accommodate mental health needs while routinely accommodating physical conditions may be engaging in disability discrimination.
What If Your Employer Denies Your Accommodation Request?
Employers do not have unlimited discretion to reject accommodations. An employer may lawfully deny a particular requested accommodation if it would impose undue hardship, eliminate essential functions, or if the employee poses a safety risk that cannot be mitigated. But a denial is not necessarily the end of the conversation.
Engage in the Interactive Process Anyway
Even if your first request gets denied, ask why. Request a meeting to discuss alternatives. If your employer says remote work creates undue hardship, propose a hybrid schedule. Document everything: dates, names, what you requested, what they said, and what they offered.
Ask for Written Reasons
If your employer denies an accommodation verbally, follow up in writing: “Per our conversation on [date], I’m confirming that my request for [accommodation] was denied due to [stated reason]. Please let me know if there are alternative accommodations we can discuss.”
Check Whether the Denial Makes Sense
If your employer claims financial hardship but just remodeled the executive suite, that might not hold up. If they say your requested accommodation is impossible but granted similar accommodations to others, that suggests pretext.
Consider Whether Retaliation Followed
Employers sometimes respond to accommodation requests with discipline, negative performance reviews, demotion, or termination. If your work history was solid before you requested accommodations and suddenly deteriorated afterward, retaliation may be in play. A San Diego disability discrimination attorney can evaluate whether your employer’s denial was lawful or pretextual.
Filing a Disability Discrimination Claim in California
If you believe you experienced disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, or retaliation, California law requires you to file an administrative complaint before filing a lawsuit.
California Civil Rights Department (CRD)
The California Civil Rights Department investigates employment discrimination complaints. You can file a complaint online, by mail, or in person. You generally must file with the CRD within three years of the discriminatory act for FEHA claims. The CRD process can then proceed through investigation, mediation, or issuance of a right-to-sue notice.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handles federal ADA claims. You can file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC if your employer has 15 or more employees. California employees often file with the CRD because FEHA provides stronger protections. EEOC charges must be filed within 300 days of the discriminatory act.
What to Document Now
Strengthen your position by keeping records of:
- Accommodation requests (emails, letters, HR forms) and your employer’s responses
- Performance reviews before and after you disclosed your disability
- Medical notes supporting your limitations and accommodation needs
- Communications with HR, your supervisor, or management about your condition
- Names and contact information for witnesses
- A timeline of key events (request dates, denial dates, disciplinary actions, termination)
Employer Defenses and What They Mean for Your California Discrimination Case
Employers facing disability discrimination claims often assert several defenses.
Undue Hardship
Employers can deny accommodations that impose significant difficulty or expense. Courts consider the employer’s size, financial resources, and business operations when evaluating this defense.
Essential Functions
Employers can require that you perform essential job duties even with accommodations. If you’re a construction worker and your disability prevents lifting, climbing, or working at heights, your employer may not have to accommodate you in that position. But they may still need to consider whether you could transfer to an administrative, safety, or supervisory role.
Direct Threat
Employers can establish that you pose a significant risk of substantial harm to yourself or others that cannot be eliminated through reasonable accommodation. The threat must be real, current, and based on objective medical evidence.
Legitimate, Non-Discriminatory Reason
Employers often claim adverse actions were based on performance, attendance, policy violations, or business needs unrelated to disability. When that happens, your ability to show pretext, that the stated reason is false or that disability was a motivating factor, becomes crucial.
FAQ for San Diego Disability Discrimination
Can I Be Fired for Having a Disability in California?
An employer cannot fire you because of a disability, but termination may still be lawful for legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons like performance, misconduct, or layoffs. An employer is not required to retain an employee who cannot perform essential duties even with reasonable accommodation, or who would pose a safety risk that cannot be reduced through accommodation.
Is Anxiety or Depression Considered a Disability for Work Purposes in California?
Mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, and bipolar disorder can qualify as disabilities under FEHA if they limit a major life activity, and under the ADA if they substantially limit a major life activity. Employers must provide reasonable accommodations for mental health conditions just as they would for physical disabilities.
Can My Employer Ask for My Medical Records When I Request an Accommodation?
Your employer can request medical documentation verifying that you have a disability and need the requested accommodation. They cannot demand your entire medical history, psychiatric records, or details unrelated to your functional limitations.
What If My Employer Says My Requested Accommodation Is Too Expensive?
Cost alone doesn’t automatically justify denying an accommodation. Your employer must show the expense would create significant financial hardship relative to their size, budget, and resources.
How Long Do I Have to File a Disability Discrimination Complaint in California?
California Civil Rights Department complaints generally must be filed within three years of the discriminatory act under FEHA. Federal EEOC charges must be filed within 300 days when a state agency like the CRD also enforces disability discrimination laws.
What Happens Next Depends on What You Do Now
Disability discrimination cases often hinge on documentation, timing, and how quickly you act. The interactive process conversation you have with HR today, the email you send requesting accommodations this week, and the notes you keep about who said what. All of this builds the foundation for protecting your rights.
At Haeggquist & Eck, our lawyers help San Diego workers navigate these situations every day. One phone call can clarify whether what you’re experiencing crosses the line into illegal discrimination, what steps to take next, and how to protect yourself from retaliation. To discuss a disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, or retaliation concern in San Diego, contact us today.
