Employment Discrimination Based Upon Physical Or Mental Disability
There are many types of discrimination that you can suffer and many different places where you can be subjected to them.
Labor and employment law protect individuals from employment discrimination in the workplace.
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers employment discrimination based upon a physical or mental disability.
Title I of the ADA encompasses employment discrimination by state and local government employment, private businesses with 15 or more employees and religious organizations with 15 or more employees.
It requires that government and business entities refrain from acting with discrimination throughout the hiring and employment process.
This includes certain questions during the pre-employment interview to reasonable accommodation once a handicapped individual is hired.
What types of questions can't be asked?Obviously, a potential employer cannot come out and ask you if you have a physical or mental disability, but they aren't limited to that.
During an interview if you are asked why you are using crutches or if you take any medication, these can be discriminatory questions and therefore a violation of the ADA.
If an employer asks you if you can stand for long periods of time or if you can lift 50lbs, these can be discriminatory questions if you have a handicap that will prevent you from doing these things.
For example, if you have arthritis and you cannot stand for long periods of time, simply by asking the question about standing the potential employer may be in violation of the Act.
This is because they could use this information to "weed" out those with a disability.
If the job actually required that you be on your feet all day long and there was no possible accommodation that was prudent for business or financially plausible, the employer may not be seen to have been acting in a discriminatory fashion.
The employment discrimination turns on whether or not you have a disability and "business necessity".
The next question that arises is what is reasonable accommodation?There are the obvious accommodations that the ADA requires, such as wheel chair ramps, wheel chair lifts and automatic door opening devices.
But what if you aren't in a wheel chair?What if your disability isn't obvious from looking at you?Employment lawyers and the ADA suggest that an employer may have to alter your work schedule or job assignment (moving a walking security guard to a sitting position at a desk).
Perhaps they may have to modify your work equipment (place a large magnifying glass at your computer).
The accommodation may be as simple as providing you a chair.
Reasonable accommodation turns on providing you with the ability to do your job so long as that provision is not unduly burdensome or financially restrictive to the employer.
So what are your remedies if you have been discriminated against on the basis of a mental or physical disability?Whether they were intentional acts or they were practices that have a discriminatory effect you are entitled to recover back pay, be reinstated, be given the promotion your were denied, be given front pay (money awarded for lost compensation for the period between judgment and reinstatement), reasonable accommodation or other actions that would make a person "whole".
Your remedies may also include payment of attorneys' fees, expert witness fees and court costs.
The ADA allows you to receive compensatory damages to compensate you for actual monetary loss, future income and mental anguish and inconvenience.
Labor and employment law provide punitive damages to punish the erring employer.
Punitive damages, while not available against government entities, are available against private business if it is found the employer acted with malice or reckless indifference.
The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) oversees and regulates the ADA.
In 2008, the Commission, together with employment lawyers, has helped nearly 19,500 employees file and win employment discrimination suits against employers in the United States.
The aggrieved employees whose cases have been completed have received almost $57.
2 million is monetary compensation.
No one should be subjected to discrimination.
Labor and employment laws are there to protect you.
If you have lost your job or not been hired because of a mental or physical disability, you have certain rights that no one can take from you.
Everyone is entitled to a job and everyone is entitled to work without discrimination.
Labor and employment law protect individuals from employment discrimination in the workplace.
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers employment discrimination based upon a physical or mental disability.
Title I of the ADA encompasses employment discrimination by state and local government employment, private businesses with 15 or more employees and religious organizations with 15 or more employees.
It requires that government and business entities refrain from acting with discrimination throughout the hiring and employment process.
This includes certain questions during the pre-employment interview to reasonable accommodation once a handicapped individual is hired.
What types of questions can't be asked?Obviously, a potential employer cannot come out and ask you if you have a physical or mental disability, but they aren't limited to that.
During an interview if you are asked why you are using crutches or if you take any medication, these can be discriminatory questions and therefore a violation of the ADA.
If an employer asks you if you can stand for long periods of time or if you can lift 50lbs, these can be discriminatory questions if you have a handicap that will prevent you from doing these things.
For example, if you have arthritis and you cannot stand for long periods of time, simply by asking the question about standing the potential employer may be in violation of the Act.
This is because they could use this information to "weed" out those with a disability.
If the job actually required that you be on your feet all day long and there was no possible accommodation that was prudent for business or financially plausible, the employer may not be seen to have been acting in a discriminatory fashion.
The employment discrimination turns on whether or not you have a disability and "business necessity".
The next question that arises is what is reasonable accommodation?There are the obvious accommodations that the ADA requires, such as wheel chair ramps, wheel chair lifts and automatic door opening devices.
But what if you aren't in a wheel chair?What if your disability isn't obvious from looking at you?Employment lawyers and the ADA suggest that an employer may have to alter your work schedule or job assignment (moving a walking security guard to a sitting position at a desk).
Perhaps they may have to modify your work equipment (place a large magnifying glass at your computer).
The accommodation may be as simple as providing you a chair.
Reasonable accommodation turns on providing you with the ability to do your job so long as that provision is not unduly burdensome or financially restrictive to the employer.
So what are your remedies if you have been discriminated against on the basis of a mental or physical disability?Whether they were intentional acts or they were practices that have a discriminatory effect you are entitled to recover back pay, be reinstated, be given the promotion your were denied, be given front pay (money awarded for lost compensation for the period between judgment and reinstatement), reasonable accommodation or other actions that would make a person "whole".
Your remedies may also include payment of attorneys' fees, expert witness fees and court costs.
The ADA allows you to receive compensatory damages to compensate you for actual monetary loss, future income and mental anguish and inconvenience.
Labor and employment law provide punitive damages to punish the erring employer.
Punitive damages, while not available against government entities, are available against private business if it is found the employer acted with malice or reckless indifference.
The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) oversees and regulates the ADA.
In 2008, the Commission, together with employment lawyers, has helped nearly 19,500 employees file and win employment discrimination suits against employers in the United States.
The aggrieved employees whose cases have been completed have received almost $57.
2 million is monetary compensation.
No one should be subjected to discrimination.
Labor and employment laws are there to protect you.
If you have lost your job or not been hired because of a mental or physical disability, you have certain rights that no one can take from you.
Everyone is entitled to a job and everyone is entitled to work without discrimination.
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