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The Americans with Disabilities Act 1990, was enacted to prevent dicrimination by employers against handicapped, or to use a new phrase, differently abled, persons. This enactment confers certain rights to the handicapped, whether it be hiring, wages, promotion, or layoffs. ((In addition, employers are encouraged to employ them, by giving them an incentive, or making it obligatory to hire a certain percentage of their workforce.)).

What are these rights, its scope, when it can invoked and what remedy is available?

First, note that this anti-discrimination legislation covers only those companies that emloy 15 or more people. This includes State and Federal Offices, and employment agencies, and even the Labor Unions. (??)

The Commission appointed under the Act, namely, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines an individual with disability as one who

• Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
• Has a record of such an impairment; or
• Is regarded as having such an impairment

It further records that the person should be able to perform the duties of a position with “reasonable” or without, accommodation provided by the employer. What is reasonable accommodation? Again, the EEOC comes to the rescue in defining this term. It includes making the existing work area or space “accessible and usable” for the disabled, restructuring the job, modifications in schedules, reassignment of the worker in question to another vacant position, modifying devices or acquiring equipment, devices, materials used for training, and providing interpreters or readers as may be found necessary.

It is also important to understand that this is not a unfettered right. In order not to create rights which would intrude into another’s rights employers are exempted if they can show cause that these rules would cause undue hardship, impose financial resource constraints, or would impair their physical space of operation, or cause reduction in productivity, or lower quality standards in making such accommodation.

Medical examinations, enquiries are prohibited from being imposed exclusively on the disabled persons. Employer are prevented from asking about the disability, its existence, severity, etc. However, they can and do have the right to ask about the ability to perform the functions required, and may have to take an exam, PROVIDED that other applicants, without apparent disability are also required to undertake the same process. In other words, what applies to normal workers would apply equally to the disabled as well.

The remedy for any breach of these rules and regulations under the law lie in a civil suit for damages or re-instatement. The onus of proof lies on the person bringing the suit; and the general rules for discovery of evidence as existing the the Civil Code would apply.

None of the laws provide shelter for those with alcoholism or use of illegal drugs. drug use or alcoholism. No protection is afforded to the disabled were the employer to ask for such tests, so long as the same tests are applied to those with normal abilities.

The State of California is the most populous state for almost all race and ethnic groups in the US. In particular, it represents an estimated 40% of the total Asian population in the country.

 

Owing to that fact, it is just usual to hear complaints of employment discrimination in the state. In national level, the law makes it illegal to discriminate based on the following:

 

· Race

· Sex

· Religion

· National origin

· Physical & mental disability

· Age

· Pregnancy

· Anticipated deployment in the reserve components of US military or National Guard

 

In some states and cities, as well as ordinances of counties and municipalities, it is also prohibited to discriminate based on the following, in addition to those prohibited in the national level:

 

· Political affiliation

· Sexual preferences

· Marital status

· Genetic disorder

· Medical condition

· Veteran status

 

There is employment discrimination when an individual experienced bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination and compensation. Various types of harassment are also prohibited.

 

Below is a helpful list of significant Federal Employment Laws, which deal with employment discrimination:

 

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) – This law prohibits employment discrimination of employees 40 years of age or older.

 

Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government – Executive Order No. 11478 – This law makes it illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin by federal contractors and contractors performing under federally funded construction contracts.

 

Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) – This law amended the Fair Labor Standards Act. It prohibits wage discrimination by employers and unions based solely on sex.

 

Vocational Rehabilitation and other Rehabilitation Services Act of 1973 – The purpose of this law is to empower individuals with disabilities to maximize employment, economic self-sufficiency, independence, and inclusion and integration into society.

 

5th and 14th Amendments, US Constitution – They limit the power of the federal and state government to discriminate. In employment, these constitutional provisions seek to limit the government to discriminate in their employment practices by treating employees, former employees or job applicants unequally because of membership in a group.

 

Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA) – The Act prohibits discrimination in more aspects of the employment relationship. It applies to most employers engaged in interstate commerce with more than 15 employees, labor organizations and employment agencies. Retaliation is also prohibited by the Act.

 

19th Century Civil Rights Act – This was amended in 1993. It ensures all persons equal rights under the law and outlines the damages available to complaints in actions brought under the CRA of 1964, ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

 

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) – This Federal Law prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of a person’s disability. It requires companies to provide accommodations to employees and the public such as 3-feet wide doors for wheelchairs.

 

Black Lung Act – This law prohibits discrimination by mine operators against miners who suffer pneumoconiosis.

 

In the State of California in particular, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) is a statute that specifically prohibits sexual harassment and other forms of unlawful discrimination in employment and housing.

 

The law also prohibits retaliation against an employee for opposing unlawful practices prohibited by the law, or for filing a complaint, testifying or assisting in the proceeding s under the FEHA.

 

For reliable legal assistance on your employment discrimination case log on to our website and seek help from our team of expert Los Angeles lawyers.

 

Never have there been so many tools for Desert Hot Springs employment lawyers to help the newly fired to win damages for discrimination, to seek a better severance package, including not only a longer period of pay benefits, but also other items, most important of which can be a longer period of health insurance benefits following the termination, or even to save the employee’s job.

 

If you’ve been fired from your job as a result of discrimination or retaliation, been harassed or the victim of a hostile work environment, or paid less than a person of the opposite sex for the same work for no other valid reason, visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

 

In Desert Hot Springs and throughout California where private employers and government offices have laid off people in the hundreds and thousands, sometimes on a weekly basis there is substantial fear among those who have recently been terminated and those who are in fear that they could be next to be let go. In areas such as the Desert Hot Springs area and throughout the Inland Empire where unemployment and foreclosures are at their highest in the state, many employees who have been discriminated against or fired in retaliation for complaints of harassment and who previously feared making any complaint, now feel they have nothing to lose.

 

Some employees are filing class action lawsuits based on everything from age and sex discrimination to discrimination against veterans. Individual claims are being made for overtime pay that the employees never received and retaliation for whistle blowing or reporting harassment.

 

One of the best tools for Desert Hot Springs employment lawyers is often the employee’s company manual and other memos of the company which often lay out glowing descriptions of how fair the company will be in their employment practices. Such manuals often describe all of the types of actions which the company claims they will not tolerate including the various forms of harassment and how the company will never take a retaliatory action against anyone blowing the whistle on harassment at the company.

 

Such manuals provide a powerful tool to the employee and the employment lawyer to show the company exactly how they violated not only the law, but also the company’s own employment guidelines. Faced with such violations of the principles the company itself laid down and promised to their employees, it is difficult for such companies to argue that they didn’t realize how they were supposed to respond to an employee’s reports of harassment or that they didn’t know they couldn’t fire someone for making such reports.

 

Employees must keep in mind that under California law, complaints alleging discrimination or retaliation must be filed with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in California within six months of the alleged discriminatory or retaliatory action by an employer, except in certain circumstances.

 

Some of the laws enforced by the Labor Commissioner in the State of California which prohibit discrimination and retaliation include discrimination or retaliation for threatening to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner, for taking time off to serve as a juror, be a witness in court or to attend judicial proceedings related to being a victim of a crime or related to a victim, for discharging victims of domestic violence, for taking time off to seek medical or psychological treatment related to domestic violence or a sexual assault, for taking time off to go to a child’s school at the request of a teacher, for disclosing his or her wages, for engaging in political activity, for being a whistle blower (not the real whistles), for being paid less than employees of a different sex for the same work unless based on a bona fide factor other than sex, or for complaining about safety or health conditions.

 

For Desert Hot Springs Employment Lawyers such as myself who are also Women’s Rights Lawyers, when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 in late January, he remedied a great injustice and provided employment and women’s rights attorneys with yet another tool in our arsenal to fight for employee’s and women’s rights.

 

Now women in California and the rest of the nation have a law that gives them the ability to redress the wrong suffered upon them by society in allowing men to receive more money for the same work from an employer and limiting the rights of women to bring a claim for pay discrimination.

 

In the past, women were required to file suit within 180 days after first being paid unfairly, even if the discrimination of being paid less than male workers in the same jobs continued. And if a woman failed to discover that male workers were being paid more for the same work, a woman still could not hold her employer accountable if she didn’t learn of the unfairness and take action within 180 days of first being paid the lesser rate.

 

Under the Fair Pay Act of 2009 signed into law by President Obama, the statute of limitations of 180 days starts with each discriminatory paycheck, rather than when the employer starts to discriminate. So long as a woman in CA files her claim within 180 days of receiving any discriminatory paycheck, not just the first one, she is considered timely in bringing her claim.

 

An important aspect of the Act is that the effective date of the Act is retroactively set at May 28, 2007, which will allow it to apply to all compensation discrimination claims that have been filed on or after that date.

 

Women can sue for back pay awards for up to two years before she files her employment discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Fair Pay Act of 2009 does not change the two-year back pay limit.

 

Under the Act, an unlawful practice occurs when a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted, when a person becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when a person is affected by the decision or practice, including each time wages, benefits or other compensation is paid.

 

California also has it’s own version of the Federal WARN Act which in certain circumstances requires 60 days warning before laying off workers. Under the 2003 California version of the Act, the requirement of 60 days warning applies to establishments with 75 or more employees who have been employed for at least 6 of the previous 12 months, who layoff or relocated 50 or more employees within a 30-day period. There are also various exceptions to the rule.

 

For the elderly employee laid off, an important ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has given added protection to older workers. Elderly persons who file employment discrimination lawsuits no longer need to prove that an employer acted intentionally. It is enough that the employee can prove that the layoffs had a disparate effect on the elderly workers.

 

Layoffs of caregivers providing care to sick family members may also violate federal law.

 

And all of these tools are still in addition to the tools Desert Hot Springs employment lawyers have against employers who practice discrimination based on sex, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation, or who subject their workers to a workplace that constitutes a hostile environment.

 

Visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us if you have been discriminated against or are the victim of retaliation by an employer in Desert Hot Springs or if you have been receiving less pay than a person of the opposite sex for the same work by your employer for no other valid reason.

 

It is thus imperative that an employee being laid off who is provided with a separation agreement and release of all claims against his employer consult with an employment attorney to determine if there weren’t violations of any of these laws and others that can assist the employee and his or her attorney to negotiate a larger severance package.

 

If you have recently been fired, are in fear of losing your job or if you have been presented with a separation agreement or severance package and have been discriminated against, harassed or are the victim of retaliation in Desert Hot Springs by your employer, we invite you to call our office.

Never have there been so many tools for Desert Hot Springs employment lawyers to help people recently fired to win damages for discrimination, to seek a better severance package, including not only a longer period of pay benefits, but also other items, most important of which can be a longer period of health insurance benefits following the termination, or even to save the employee’s job.

If you’ve been fired from your job as a result of discrimination or retaliation, been harassed or the victim of a hostile work environment, or paid less than a person of the opposite sex for the same work for no other valid reason, visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

In Desert Hot Springs and throughout California where private employers and government offices have laid off people in the hundreds and thousands, sometimes on a weekly basis there is substantial fear among those who have recently been terminated and those who are in fear that they could be next to be let go. In areas such as the Desert Hot Springs area where unemployment and foreclosures are at their highest in the state, many employees who have been discriminated against or fired in retaliation for complaints of harassment and who previously feared making any complaint, now feel they have nothing to lose.

Some employees are filing class action lawsuits based on everything from age and sex discrimination to discrimination against veterans. Individual claims are being made for overtime pay that the employees never received and retaliation for whistle blowing or reporting harassment.

One of the best tools for Desert Hot Springs employment lawyers is often the employee’s company manual and other memos of the company which often lay out glowing descriptions of how fair the company will be in their employment practices. Such manuals often describe all of the types of actions which the company claims they will not tolerate including the various forms of harassment and how the company will never take a retaliatory action against anyone blowing the whistle on harassment at the company.

Such manuals provide a powerful tool to the employee and the employment lawyer to show the company exactly how they violated not only the law, but also the company’s own employment guidelines. Faced with such violations of the principles the company itself laid down and promised to their employees, it is difficult for such companies to argue that they didn’t realize how they were supposed to respond to an employee’s reports of harassment or that they didn’t know they couldn’t fire someone for making such reports.

Employees must keep in mind that under California law, complaints alleging discrimination or retaliation must be filed with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in California within six months of the alleged discriminatory or retaliatory action by an employer, except in certain circumstances.

Some of the laws enforced by the Labor Commissioner in the State of California which prohibit discrimination and retaliation include discrimination or retaliation for threatening to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner, for taking time off to serve as a juror, be a witness in court or to attend judicial proceedings related to being a victim of a crime or related to a victim, for discharging victims of domestic violence, for taking time off to seek medical or psychological treatment related to domestic violence or a sexual assault, for taking time off to go to a child’s school at the request of a teacher, for disclosing his or her wages, for engaging in political activity, for being a whistle blower (not the real whistles), for being paid less than employees of a different sex for the same work unless based on a bona fide factor other than sex, or for complaining about safety or health conditions.

For Desert Hot Springs Employment Lawyers such as myself who are also Women’s Rights Lawyers, when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 in late January, he remedied a great injustice and provided employment and women’s rights attorneys with yet another tool in our arsenal to fight for employee’s and women’s rights.

Now women in California and the rest of the nation have a law that gives them the ability to redress the wrong suffered upon them by society in allowing men to receive more money for the same work from an employer and limiting the rights of women to bring a claim for pay discrimination.

In the past, women were required to file suit within 180 days after first being paid unfairly, even if the discrimination of being paid less than male workers in the same jobs continued. And if a woman failed to discover that male workers were being paid more for the same work, a woman still could not hold her employer accountable if she didn’t learn of the unfairness and take action within 180 days of first being paid the lesser rate.

Under the Fair Pay Act of 2009 signed into law by President Obama, the statute of limitations of 180 days starts with each discriminatory paycheck, rather than when the employer starts to discriminate. So long as a woman in CA files her claim within 180 days of receiving any discriminatory paycheck, not just the first one, she is considered timely in bringing her claim.

An important aspect of the Act is that the effective date of the Act is retroactively set at May 28, 2007, which will allow it to apply to all compensation discrimination claims that have been filed on or after that date.

Women can sue for back pay awards for up to two years before she files her employment discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Fair Pay Act of 2009 does not change the two-year back pay limit.

Under the Act, an unlawful practice occurs when a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice is adopted, when a person becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when a person is affected by the decision or practice, including each time wages, benefits or other compensation is paid.

California also has it’s own version of the Federal WARN Act which in certain circumstances requires 60 days warning before laying off workers. Under the 2003 California version of the Act, the requirement of 60 days warning applies to establishments with 75 or more employees who have been employed for at least 6 of the previous 12 months, who layoff or relocated 50 or more employees within a 30-day period. There are also various exceptions to the rule.

For the elderly employee laid off, an important ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has given added protection to older workers. Elderly persons who file employment discrimination lawsuits no longer need to prove that an employer acted intentionally. It is enough that the employee can prove that the layoffs had a disparate effect on the elderly workers.

Layoffs of caregivers providing care to sick family members may also violate federal law.

And all of these tools are still in addition to the tools Desert Hot Springs employment lawyers have against employers who practice discrimination based on sex, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation, or who subject their workers to a workplace that constitutes a hostile environment.

Visit our website at http://www.CaliforniaAttorneysLawyers.com and call us if you have been discriminated against or are the victim of retaliation by an employer in Desert Hot Springs or if you have been receiving less pay than a person of the opposite sex for the same work by your employer for no other valid reason.

It is thus imperative that an employee being laid off who is provided with a separation agreement and release of all claims against his employer consult with an employment attorney to determine if there weren’t violations of any of these laws and others that can assist the employee and his or her attorney to negotiate a larger severance package.

If you have recently been fired, are in fear of losing your job or if you have been presented with a separation agreement or severance package and have been discriminated against, harassed or are the victim of retaliation in Desert Hot Springs by your employer, we invite you to call our office.