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If your job treated you differently because of a disability, a medical condition, or a diagnosis your employer learned about, California law gives you more protection than most workers realize. The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) covers employees at companies with five or more workers and requires an employer to work with you, not around you, when a health condition affects how you do your job.
Mercer Legal Group represents employees across California in disability discrimination, failure-to-accommodate, and retaliation claims. Our office sits on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, and we take cases from workers throughout the state, from the Bay Area to San Diego, whether you were fired after asking for time off, denied a schedule change you needed, or pushed out once a manager found out about your condition.
Talk to us before you sign a severance agreement or let a filing deadline pass. Schedule a free consultation with a disability discrimination lawyer at Mercer Legal Group, and we will tell you honestly whether you have a claim.
The work is concrete. We read the employer’s stated reason for the demotion, denial, or firing, then hold it against the record: your accommodation requests, your medical notes, your performance reviews, and the timeline of who knew what and when. Most disability cases turn on that timeline. An employer rarely writes down “we let her go because of the diagnosis,” so the evidence that proves the real reason is circumstantial, and building it is the job.
From there we handle the parts that trip up workers who try to go it alone: filing the administrative complaint with California’s Civil Rights Department, requesting a right-to-sue notice, calculating your lost pay, and pressing the employer to either restore your accommodation or pay for the harm. If the employer will not deal fairly, we file suit in state court under FEHA.
A disability lawyer also keeps you from the two mistakes that sink these claims: waiting past the filing deadline, and quitting before you have documented that the job became impossible. Both come up again below.
Under Government Code section 12940(a), an employer breaks the law when it fires, demotes, refuses to hire, cuts the pay of, or otherwise penalizes a qualified worker because of a disability. The disability does not have to be visible or permanent. FEHA reaches physical impairments, chronic illness, mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, and medical conditions like cancer. It also protects you when the employer wrongly assumes you are disabled, treats you as if you are, or acts against you over a past condition you have recovered from.
Two points matter for California workers. First, the law looks at the employer’s reason, not just its words. A write-up that lands days after you disclose a condition, or a “restructuring” that happens to eliminate only your position, can be evidence of discrimination even when the paperwork says something else. Second, discrimination includes an employer’s refusal to accommodate a condition it knows about. Doing nothing is itself a violation, which the accommodation section below explains.
Disability discrimination is rarely announced. It usually shows up in a decision that does not add up, or in a pattern that starts right after your employer learns about your health. These are the situations California workers bring to us most often:
When any of these fits, the timing and the paper trail decide the case. Save the emails, the denial, and the dates.
Disability claims in California follow a set path, and each step carries a deadline you cannot skip. Knowing the sequence up front is what protects your case.
It starts with the facts. We work through your timeline, your medical documentation, and any accommodation requests, and we pin down which FEHA duties the employer broke, whether that is discrimination under section 12940(a), a failure to accommodate under 12940(m), or a refusal to engage in the interactive process under 12940(n). Next comes the administrative step: before you can sue under FEHA, you file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) and request a right-to-sue notice. Many employment lawyers request that notice at the outset so the lawsuit clock starts running.
With the right-to-sue notice in hand, we press the employer to resolve the claim through a demand and negotiation, and file suit in California superior court if they refuse. Most disability cases settle before trial, but the ones that settle on fair terms tend to be the ones the employer knows are trial-ready. We build every file that way.
California defines disability more broadly than federal law, and the difference is not academic. It decides whether you are covered at all.
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act protects a condition that substantially limits a major life activity, and it applies only to employers with 15 or more employees. FEHA drops the word “substantially.” Under Government Code section 12926, a condition qualifies in California when it simply limits a major life activity, and working itself counts as a major life activity. FEHA also reaches employers with five or more employees. So a worker at a 30-person company with a manageable condition, someone who might fall outside the ADA, is often squarely protected in California.
Conditions that qualify under California law include:
Because the threshold is lower, the fight in a California case is less often “is this a disability” and more often “did the employer meet its duties once it knew.” Those duties are accommodation and the interactive process.
Government Code section 12940(m) requires your employer to provide a reasonable accommodation for a known disability, and section 12940(n) requires it to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process to find one. These are two separate duties. An employer can break the law by refusing an accommodation, and it can break the law a second way by never having the conversation.
The interactive process is meant to be a real back-and-forth: you identify the limitation, the employer proposes or weighs adjustments, and both sides work toward something that lets you perform the essential functions of the job. Silence is not a choice the law allows. When an employer ignores a request, drags the process out, or offers nothing and closes the file, that failure is itself grounds for a claim under section 12940(n).
Reasonable accommodations often include:
Leave is where these cases often break down. Beyond accommodation leave, California workers may have rights under the California Family Rights Act (Government Code section 12945.2) and Pregnancy Disability Leave, alongside the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Running out of FMLA time does not by itself let an employer fire you. If more finite leave would let you return and does not impose an undue hardship, FEHA may require it. An employer can decline an accommodation only by proving undue hardship, meaning significant difficulty or expense measured against the size and resources of the business, not mere inconvenience.
FEHA protects the act of asking. Once you request an accommodation, take protected medical leave, or complain about disability discrimination, your employer cannot punish you for it. Retaliation is a separate violation from the underlying discrimination, and in many cases it is the easier one to prove, because the timing speaks for itself.
Retaliation shows up as:
You are protected even if it later turns out the accommodation was not required, as long as you asked in good faith. The law shields the request, not just the outcome.
To win a FEHA disability claim, you generally have to show four things: you have a condition the law protects, your employer knew about it, you could perform the essential functions of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation, and the employer took an adverse action, or refused to accommodate, because of the disability. The employer will offer a lawful-sounding reason. Your case is the evidence that the reason is a cover.
That evidence is usually built from documents and timing: accommodation requests in writing, medical notes, reviews that were fine until they suddenly were not, and the sequence of events after the employer learned of your condition. Keep everything, and keep it in one place.
If you prove the claim, FEHA remedies can include:
Deadlines decide whether any of this is available. In California you generally have three years from the discriminatory act to file a complaint with the Civil Rights Department, a window that AB 9 extended from one year back in 2020. After the CRD issues your right-to-sue notice, you have one year to file the lawsuit. A parallel federal charge with the EEOC must be filed within 300 days in California. Miss the window and even the strongest claim is worth nothing, which is why the first call should come early.
employment
Personal Injury
Victims of disability discrimination may be entitled to various forms of compensation to address the harm they suffered. This can include back pay for lost wages, front pay for future earnings, emotional distress damages for mental suffering, and reinstatement to a former position when appropriate. In some cases, punitive damages may also be awarded to penalize particularly egregious employer conduct.
Potential compensation for disability discrimination may include:
Lost wages and benefits
Future lost earnings
Emotional distress damages
Punitive damages in severe cases
Attorney’s fees and legal costs
At Mercer Legal Group, we specialize in California employment law, ensuring clients receive guidance that is fully aligned with state-specific protections and regulations. With a great track record in handling discrimination claims, we are a trusted advocate for employees facing disability discrimination in California.
With extensive experience handling discrimination claims, Our team of disability discrimination lawyers is skilled at gathering evidence, assessing legal options, and providing personalized support throughout the process.
Our firm takes a strategic approach to negotiation and litigation, seeking the best possible outcomes for clients. Above all, Mercer Legal Group is committed to protecting employee rights, ensuring that workers and their co workers are treated fairly and receive the compensation and accommodations they are entitled to under the law.
Below are some frequently asked questions and their answers that could shed some light on disability discrimination law and lawyers.
A reasonable accommodation is a change to your job or workplace that lets you perform the essential duties despite a disability, such as a modified schedule, remote work, ergonomic equipment, reassignment, or a finite leave. Under Government Code section 12940(m), your employer must provide one for a known disability. It can refuse only by proving undue hardship, meaning significant difficulty or expense judged against the size and resources of the business. Cost or mild inconvenience alone does not clear that bar.
Not because of the leave or the disability. If you were terminated during or right after protected or accommodation-related leave, the timing itself can be evidence of discrimination or retaliation under FEHA. Employers sometimes claim the leave simply “ran out,” but exhausting FMLA or CFRA time does not automatically permit a firing. If additional finite leave would let you return and does not impose an undue hardship, FEHA may require your employer to grant it as an accommodation.
In two ways that decide many cases. FEHA covers employers with five or more employees, while the ADA applies only at 15 or more. And FEHA protects a condition that “limits” a major life activity, while the ADA requires a condition that “substantially limits” one. Under Government Code section 12926, that lower threshold means many California workers are protected even when they would fall outside federal law. FEHA also expressly covers medical conditions and perceived disabilities.
The interactive process is the good-faith conversation your employer must have with you to identify a workable accommodation, required by Government Code section 12940(n). You raise the limitation, the employer weighs options, and both sides try to reach a solution that lets you do the job. It is a separate legal duty from actually providing the accommodation. If your employer ignored your request, stalled, or offered nothing and closed the matter, that failure alone can support a claim, before a court ever decides what accommodation was owed.
You generally have three years from the discriminatory act to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), a deadline AB 9 extended from one year in 2020. Once the CRD issues a right-to-sue notice, you have one year to file your lawsuit. If you also pursue a federal charge through the EEOC, that must be filed within 300 days in California. These deadlines are firm, so it is worth speaking with a lawyer well before they approach.
Yes. Before filing a FEHA lawsuit, you first file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department and obtain a right-to-sue notice. That notice is what lets you take the case to court. Many attorneys request it at the outset rather than waiting for the agency to investigate, so the lawsuit deadline starts running and the case can move forward without delay.
Yes. FEHA is a statewide law enforced by the California Civil Rights Department, and we represent employees across California, not only the Los Angeles area. Our office is in Woodland Hills, but disability discrimination cases run under the same state statutes wherever you work in California, and much of the process happens by phone, email, and video. Tell us where you are and where the employer is based, and we will explain how your claim would proceed.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this blog is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and regulations vary by jurisdiction and may change over time, so you should consult a qualified discrimination attorney for advice regarding your specific situation. Past examples, case studies, or hypothetical scenarios are illustrative only and do not guarantee similar results.
