Disability Discrimination Based on Back or Spinal Cord Injuries

Employment Lawyers Helping Residents of Los Angeles

Back and spinal cord injuries may be debilitating and affect your ability to do your job. Back injuries may include sprains, compressed nerves, or disc herniation. Severe spinal cord injuries may cause partial or full paralysis, and they may put someone in a wheelchair for the rest of their life. Many workers suffer from back injuries or spinal cord injuries. They are able to do their jobs but may require accommodations. If you face disability discrimination based on the back or spinal cord injuries, the Los Angeles disability discrimination attorneys at The Nourmand Law Firm may be able to help you file a lawsuit as appropriate.

Pursue a Claim of Disability Discrimination Based on Back or Spinal Cord Injuries

Back and spinal cord injuries may limit major life activities and may be considered disabilities under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The ADA and FEHA require disabled workers to be treated in certain specified ways, and an employer’s failure to treat a disabled worker fairly may result in an employee’s disability discrimination claim.

FEHA has a broader application than the ADA because it applies to almost all employers in California that have five or more employees. Discrimination may include any adverse treatment, such as firing, demotion, or unfavorable job reassignment. If you face a wrongful termination, demotion, failure to engage in the interactive process or failure to accommodate because of a back or spinal cord injury, or you are not hired because of a back or spinal cord injury, even though you are qualified for the job, you may have grounds for a claim of disability discrimination based on back or spinal cord injuries.

Under the ADA and FEHA, disabled workers are entitled to reasonable accommodations for their disabilities. In some cases, an employee might be released to light-duty work. It would be a mistake for an employer to refuse to allow the employee to return to the job with light duties without engaging with an employee’s request for accommodation. The employer is required by law to work with an employee asking for a reasonable accommodation in a timely, good-faith, interactive process. This is an individualized interaction in which an employer is supposed to try to understand an individual employee’s restrictions, compare them to the employee’s jobs or other available jobs, and figure out if there is a way to accommodate them.

However, an employer is not required to provide an accommodation if it would constitute an undue hardship. Simply costing money would not be a good reason to reject accommodation. An employer who relied on undue hardship has the burden of proving that an accommodation would constitute an undue hardship, which is a tough burden to establish. However, each situation needs to be evaluated based on its unique facts.

An employer is required to accommodate an employee with a disability by allowing the employee to attend doctor’s visits, take time off to have surgery or recuperate from an injury as long as the employee provides the employer with a doctor’s note with a finite date, a date certain when the doctor expects the employee to return to work with or without restrictions.

Retain an Experienced Disability Discrimination Attorney in Los Angeles

Back pain is a leading cause of disability in workplaces. If you have suffered harm in a Los Angeles workplace due to disability discrimination based on the back or spinal cord injuries, the lawyers at The Nourmand Law Firm, APC, may be able to help you file a lawsuit to pursue your damages. We strive to provide aggressive legal representation to workers who have been wronged in San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Palm Springs, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Van Nuys, Beverly Hills, and other cities in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties. Call us at 323-895-7800 or contact us through our online form to schedule a free consultation with a wrongful termination attorney or seek assistance with another employment discrimination claim.