Accommodation of Disability

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Riggan Law Firm, LLC represents disabled individuals who have been denied reasonable workplace accommodations or who seek legal advice regarding their workplace rights under federal and state disability laws. If you are disabled, your employer must provide you with a reasonable accommodation that would enable you to perform the essential functions of your job. Speak with an attorney at Riggan Law Firm, LLC if your employer has denied you reasonable accommodation or if you would like to learn more about what accommodations you are entitled to as a disabled person.

Employee Disability Rights in the Workplace

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination in employment against qualified individuals with disabilities. The ADA applies to:

• private employers,
• state and local governments,
• employment agencies,
• labor organizations, and
• labor-management committees.

The law covers employment practices encompassing recruitment, hiring, firing, promotions, training, job assignments, benefits, pay and all other employment-related activities. Your employer also may not retaliate against you for asserting your ADA rights and may not discriminate against you based on your relationship with an individual with a disability.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces ADA regulations among employers with 15 or more employees. However, the U.S. Department of Justice enforces ADA regulations in state and local government programs, regardless of how many employees are in the organization.

To be protected under the ADA, a disability must be considered a substantial impairment that significantly limits:

• speaking,
• seeing,
• hearing,
• walking,
• performing manual tasks,
• breathing, or
• major life activities.

Note that you must meet the qualifications for the job (education, experience, skills, etc.) and be able to perform the essential functions of the position. That being said, employers may not refuse to hire you if your disability limits you from performing tasks that are not considered essential to the job.

Examples of Accommodations of Disability

Your ADA rights include access to reasonable accommodations, such as changes or adjustments to the workplace, that help an individual with a disability do their job and enjoy the benefits afforded to employees without disabilities. If you have a disability and request an accommodation to perform the essential functions of your job, your employer is legally required to engage in an "interactive process" with you to determine how to address your situation. An employer’s failure to do so is a violation of the law. However, if such an accommodation would create an undue hardship in difficulty or expense for your employer, they might have reason not to provide the accommodation.

Some examples of reasonable accommodations could be:

• flexible or modified work schedules,
• adjustment of training materials and employee policies,
• providing new or modifying existing equipment,
• making the workplace more accessible to people with disabilities,
• job restructuring,
• reassignment to another position, and
• providing interpreters.

Contact an Employment Law Attorney Today

Employers do not always properly handle situations where a disabled employee might request special needs, such as a modified work schedule or taking time off work. This could be because your employer does not understand their legal obligations or because they simply refuse to acknowledge your right to absence due to your disability.

In some situations, the employer may attempt to characterize your disability-related absence as amounting to unexcused leave, an unwillingness to work, or job abandonment on your part. Unfortunately, many employers would rather terminate a disabled employee and risk the consequences of unlawful termination than account for legal accommodations and absences.

The attorneys at Riggan Law Firm, LLC firmly believe that employees with disabilities deserve to be free from workplace harassment and discrimination. If you have experienced workplace discrimination for your disability and have been denied reasonable accommodation to perform adequate work, contact Riggan Law Firm, LLC right away for legal assistance. When you retain the legal counsel of Riggan Law Firm, LLC, you will be working with dedicated and highly experienced employment law attorneys who are ready to provide you with outstanding representation in Missouri and Illinois.

Contact an attorney at Riggan Law Firm, LLC immediately at (314) 684-8406 or online here.