Employment discrimination law prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, religion and disability. This article we will concentrate on disability discrimination. The act that covers the disability area is called the American with Disabilities Act. The act defines who is protected by the law and what types of discrimination are considered illegal. One problem underlying all Employment discrimination law and particular in the case of disabilities is that the definitions offered are open to a vast array of interpretations. This comes down to defining who is an individual with a disability. In the act, a person with a disability is one who has a physical/mental impairment that severely limits one or more of life's major activities. You then need to understand the definition of major life activities, these are things an average person can do without difficulty such as walking, breathing, seeing, hearing, and working.
Employment discrimination laws cover the hiring, promotion and firing processes. This which means, a well-qualified applicant cannot be denied fair consideration for employment. Current employees cannot be denied promotion or terminated on the grounds of their disability. Training, benefits, and employee compensation cannot be waived or in any way altered due to a disability. If an employee or applicant makes a claim of discrimination, they must first be a "qualified individual with a disability", which means if the person is disabled, they must be able to perform the job or task before they can claim they are being discriminated physically.
Employment discrimination laws take the definition of a qualified person with a disability a step further than just being to carry out the work, you must be able perform the job with or without reasonable accommodation. What is reasonable accommodation you may ask? It can include providing access for people with disabilities, modified work hours, additional unpaid leave, job restructuring and modifying devices in the work environment. For an employer to comply with employment discrimination laws, he/she is not required to lower production or safety standards to make an accommodation, nor are they expected to provide personal use items such as wheelchairs, eyeglasses or hearing aid. Now at this point in the discussion of accommodation provisions, it should be pointed out there are exemptions built into this area of the law for employers. Although they are required to make reasonable accommodations for a qualified candidate, this obligation is limited if it can be shown that it would cause undue hardship to the operation of the employer's business. In this case, undue hardship refers to something that causes significant inconvenience or expense when compared to things like the size of the business, their financial status and its operation/structure. This unfortunately has all the earmarks of a loophole, one which can be used by employers to subtly discriminate.
No matter why you feel you have been discriminated against, it is important to always check all employment discrimination laws on existing statutes and any relevant case law prior to making a final decision on whether or not to file a complaint.
