Employment Law - Disability Discrimination

The law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of their disabilities. Employees may be protected if they have significant physical or mental illnesses or handicaps that have been diagnosed by a doctor. The illnesses and handicaps may be temporary or long-term. However, they must be severe enough to not be correctable through ordinary medical treatments. For example, blindness is a protected disability, but mere short-sightedness is not.

Employers may discriminate on the basis of a disability if it prevents employees from performing the essential functions of the job. However, employers may be required to provide reasonable assistance to help disabled employees perform these functions, unless doing so would harm business operations too much. For example, a construction company may be required to install a wheelchair ramp at its corporate headquarters, but not at its work sites. On the other hand, a small construction company may not be required to install a ramp if the cost is too high.

In three recent cases, referred to as the Sutton Trilogy, the U.S. Supreme Court has significantly limited the definition of a disability. In essence, the Court decided that if a disabled person’s condition is correctable, then whether the person is disabled under the law depends on how the person functions with the help of the correction. If you are a disabled employee, you should be aware that this new rule may limit your ability to bring a claim for discrimination.

Some examples of disability discrimination are:

1. Your doctor has diagnosed you with a medical problem, but says you can still perform your job with a little help. Your employer refuses to provide you with that help, and instead, reassigns, demotes, or fires you.
2. Your doctor says you need a leave of absence from work to recover from a medical problem. However, your employer refuses to grant it, or your employer refuses to rehire you when you return.
3. You used to have a mental or physical illness or handicap, and you are denied a job, denied a promotion, reassigned, or fired because of it.
4. You are at a job interview, and the potential employer asks you any question related to physical or mental disabilities, including questions about your prescription drug use and workers compensation history.
5. A potential employer makes you a job offer, requires you to submit to a medical test (other than a drug test), and then denies you the job because of some mental or physical disability, even though you are capable of performing the duties of the job.

Nichols Kaster & Anderson, PLLP has litigation experience in many types of cases, including disability discrimination. If you think you may become involved in litigation with your employer, feel free to contact us.