Discriminación por discapacidad

La discriminación en el lugar de trabajo basada en discapacidades tanto físicas como mentales está prohibida en el estado de California, pero esto no significa que un empresario esté obligado a contratar a alguien con una discapacidad si no puede realizar las tareas necesarias para el puesto. Más bien, los empresarios están obligados a proporcionar adaptaciones razonables siempre que el empleado en cuestión cumpla los criterios del puesto. Por ejemplo, una persona en silla de ruedas no podría trabajar como vigilante de seguridad, ya que caminar por las instalaciones es una tarea necesaria. Sin embargo, una persona que utilice una silla de ruedas sí podría trabajar como contable en una oficina, ya que la deambulación no es necesaria para realizar bien el trabajo. En este caso, el empresario debería proporcionar un escritorio totalmente accesible para su empleado en silla de ruedas.

Employee Disabilities

What Constitutes Disability Accommodations

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer is required to provide reasonable accommodations that would allow qualified employees with disabilities to comfortably and effectively perform the job despite disabilities. So long as the accommodation in question does not cause undue hardship for the employer, they are legally required to provide whatever their disabled employee reasonably needs.

For example, an employee with a psychiatric disability may have a hard time processing verbal instructions or remembering what was said in meetings. In this scenario, the employee should be issued a tape recorder for reviewing meetings and training sessions. This accommodation is reasonable and does not create an undue hardship for the employer.

Employee Disabilities

Employee Disabilities and the Interactive Process

The interactive process is the process by which the disabled employee and their employer should work together to determine what accommodations will work best for their unique situation. It consists of five steps:

  1. The employer analyzes the specific job in question in order to determine essential duties and functions.

  2. The employer and employee work together to identify barriers that would hinder the employee from performing essential job functions.

  3. The employer comes up with a range of accommodations aimed at reducing or eliminating the barriers identified in step two.

  4. The employer takes employee preference into consideration and determines whether or not the various accommodations would pose an undue hardship.

  5. The accommodations are provided to the employee.

Baja por incapacidad durante el embarazo

If a pregnant woman is unable to perform essential job duties due to her pregnancy or a pregnancy-related medical condition, then she is entitled to go on temporary disability leave.