Accommodating Employee with Anxiety
About 40 million American adults or approximately 18% of the population suffers from an anxiety disorder according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. This makes anxiety disorders the most common mental illness in the United States. Excessive anxiety can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships, at a certain level, it could meet the definition of a disability under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). Since almost 1 in 5 adults suffers from an anxiety disorder, it is likely that an employer with five or more employees (and therefore subject to FEHA) will have an employee who suffers from an anxiety disorder. What is an employer’s obligation if it learns that an employee suffers from anxiety and it’s affecting the employee’s ability to work? Assuming that an employee suffers from severe or chronic disorder that interferes with their activities of daily living (not merely the occasional anxiety that we may feel when faced with uncertainty, a micro-manager, or the like), below are some basic steps an employer should follow. Remember the objective. … Continue reading
Support Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation
New regulations related to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) went into effect on April 1, 2016. Among the various additions, which touch on a broad range of discrimination issues in employment, is a discussion about support animals as a reasonable accommodation in the workplace. As a servant to my 3 dogs and lawyer who has worked on dog bite cases, this was of particular interest to me. The new regulations specifically discuss assistive and support animals in the area of disability accommodation and provides that an assistive animal, including support animals, may constitute a reasonable accommodation in certain circumstances. What is an “Assistive Animal”? According to the new regulations, an “assistive animal” is defined as an animal that is necessary as a reasonable accommodation. These include: guide dogs for the visually impaired, signal dogs for the hearing impaired, and trained service dogs that meet the requirements of the Civil Code related to training and licensing. Additionally, a “support dog” or other animal that provides emotional, cognitive, or other similar support to a person with a disability, including, but … Continue reading
Disability Accommodation
Here’s a common situation, an employee calls in sick and a couple of days later you receive a doctor’s note taking the employee off work for 2 weeks. If you are an employer with 5 or more employees in California, you are subject to the anti-discrimination provisions of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”). If you have 15 or more employees, you are also subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Both laws require employers to find a reasonable accommodation for an employee who suffers a physical or mental disability so that the employee could return to work. California employers have the added duty to engage in the interactive process in good faith. The interactive process is simply engaging the employee in a dialogue to understand their restrictions and available accommodations. Why does it matter? From a management perspective, truly engaging in the interactive process and making the appropriate efforts to accommodate a disabled employee shows all your workers that they are valued beyond being merely disposable workers. From a legal/monetary standpoint, doing it right will prevent … Continue reading
New Law – Request for Disability and Religious Accommodation a Protected Activity
Yesterday (July 16, 2015) Governor Brown signed AB 987 into law, making it an unlawful employment practice for an employer or other covered entity to retaliate or otherwise discriminate against a person for “requesting” an accommodation for physical or mental disability or religious belief or observance, regardless of whether the request was granted. Doing so would constitute disability discrimination and/or religious discrimination. This bill was introduced in response to the Court of Appeal’s decision in Rope v. Auto-Clor System of Washington, Inc. (2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 635, where the court found no authority that a request for accommodation, without more, supports a FEHA retaliation claim). The new law now provides that legal authority. New Law Makes REQUESTING Disability and Religious Accommodations a Protected Activity Existing law requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation of, among other things, a person’s disability and religious beliefs and prohibits discrimination against any person because the person has opposed any practices forbidden under the act or because the person has filed a complaint. This new law takes it a step further and prohibits an employer from retaliating or … Continue reading
Cancer as a Disability – $846,000 Award for Failure to Accommodate Employee During Cancer Recovery
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) today announced its largest-ever administrative award of $846,300 against electrical supplier Acme Electric Corporation for firing an employee who was recovering from cancer. Charles Richard Wideman worked for Acme Electric as western regional sales manager overseeing sales operations in the company’s largest territory from February 2004 to March 2008. He developed kidney cancer in 2006 and prostate cancer in 2007, which required two surgeries and numerous cancer-related outpatient appointments. Although the company immediately granted his two requests for time off for surgery and recuperative leave, they failed to grant his request for further accommodation for the travel limitation his cancers caused from June 2006 through April 2007. Instead, Mr. Wideman’s supervisor gave him an unfavorable performance evaluation that criticized him for insufficient travel. On February 28, 2008, Mr. Wideman was fired. After a three-day hearing, the State’s Fair Employment and Housing Commission found Acme Electric violated the FEHA by failing to accommodate Mr. Wideman’s known travel limitation due to his cancers, failing to engage in a good faith interactive process, discriminating … Continue reading