Disability Discrimination Lawyer in Los Angeles

Mercer Legal Group represents Los Angeles and California employees in disability discrimination claims, accommodation denials, and retaliation tied to medical conditions. California protects more than federal law does, and the deadlines run quickly.

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What Disability Discrimination Looks Like at Work

Disability discrimination at work is not always a public refusal to hire you. More often it is the quiet version — a missed promotion after disclosing a condition, a sudden negative review after asking for a schedule change, a transfer to a less visible role after medical leave, or a firing that follows the interactive process by a few weeks. Under California law, the employer’s duty is not just to avoid mistreating disabled employees. It is to engage in a good-faith conversation — the interactive process — about whether a reasonable accommodation would let the employee perform the essential functions of the job. Failing to engage in that conversation is itself a violation, even when the employer is not openly hostile.

Common Examples of Disability Discrimination

Denied a reasonable accommodation that would have let the employee keep working. Fired or demoted shortly after disclosing a disability, chronic illness, or medical restriction. Refused medical leave for treatment, surgery, or recovery. Pushed out after returning from medical leave — schedule cut, role narrowed, or written up for the first time. No interactive process at all after the employee asked for help. Retaliated against after requesting accommodation — harassment, transfers, discipline, or termination. The pattern that hurts an employer’s defense the most is silence — the employee asked, the employer never responded, and the negative action followed.
Los Angeles area where Mercer Legal Group serves California employees

How California Law Protects Disabled Employees

California disability law is significantly broader than federal law. That difference matters because most California employees can rely on FEHA when federal law would not help. FEHA protects disability and “perceived disability” for employers with five or more employees and uses a lower threshold than the ADA for what counts as a disability. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees and uses the federal “major life activity” framework. CFRA allows up to 12 weeks of protected medical leave for employees of covered employers. FMLA provides parallel federal medical leave protection. Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) is separate and provides up to four months of leave for pregnancy-related disability. For most California employees, FEHA provides the broader protection and the longer filing window — three years to file with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).
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Mercer Legal Group reviews employment law claims carefully, explains available options, and pursues appropriate remedies when the facts and law support them. Every case is different, and no attorney can guarantee a specific result.

What Compensation or Remedies May Be Available

Where the facts support a disability discrimination claim, available remedies may include:

  • Back pay and front pay
  • Emotional distress damages under FEHA
  • Reinstatement, accommodation enforcement, or restoration to the prior role
  • Attorney’s fees and costs under FEHA and the ADA
  • Punitive damages in cases involving malice or oppression

Every case is different, and no attorney can guarantee a specific outcome.

What to Do If You Were Denied an Accommodation

  1. Put the accommodation request in writing. A short email — “I need [adjustment] for a medical condition” — creates a record. Keep a copy.
  2. Document the employer’s response. Did they engage in the interactive process? Did they offer alternatives? Did anyone respond at all?
  3. Save evidence of any punishment. If discipline, schedule cuts, transfers, or termination followed the request, capture the timeline.
  4. Talk to an attorney before signing severance. Many disability cases turn on the silence between the request and the negative action — and severance releases often waive valuable claims.

How Mercer Legal Group Helps

Our California disability discrimination attorneys read the facts, identify whether the employer engaged in a good-faith interactive process, and pursue available remedies when the facts support them. Cases are handled on a contingency-fee basis. From the first call you talk to a senior attorney.

Mercer Legal Group focuses on disability discrimination, accommodation, interactive-process, and retaliation claims tied to protected characteristics or protected activity. We generally do not handle standalone wage-and-hour disputes, unpaid commission claims, Kaiser Permanente matters, public agency claims, or ordinary workplace disputes with no protected legal issue.
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FAQs

Disability discrimination cases often turn on what the employer did — or didn’t do — after the employee disclosed. Below are the questions clients ask us most.

California uses a lower threshold than federal law. Under FEHA, a condition counts as a disability if it limits — not “substantially limits” — a major life activity. That covers many chronic and treatable conditions the ADA might not. California employers in Los Angeles and statewide must apply this broader definition, which is one reason Los Angeles disability cases often succeed under FEHA when a parallel ADA claim would not.

Not by itself. Under California’s FEHA, the employer must show the specific hardship in detail and must consider alternative accommodations. A vague “we can’t do that” rarely survives close review. Los Angeles courts examine the interactive-process record carefully — was the conversation real, were alternatives offered, did the employer document its reasoning?

Generally no. Firing an employee while on protected CFRA, FMLA, or PDL leave is illegal in most California circumstances. Even when the firing is unrelated to the leave, California law shifts the burden to the employer to show that. Los Angeles juries often respond strongly when an employer cannot point to documented, pre-leave performance issues.

Often no. CFRA and FMLA generally require the California employer to restore the employee to the same or an equivalent role on return. Changes to pay, schedule, or responsibilities can support a retaliation claim. Many Los Angeles disability cases turn on what changed between the leave start and the return, not on what was said.

Yes. Under California law, once an employee notifies the employer of a condition that may require accommodation, the employer must engage in the interactive process. Skipping that conversation is itself a FEHA violation. Lack of documentation requests from the employer often shows the interactive process never happened.

Los Angeles area where Mercer Legal Group serves California employees

Get a Free, Confidential Case Review

If you were denied an accommodation, fired after disclosing a condition, demoted on return from leave, or retaliated against for using protected medical rights, contact Mercer Legal Group for a free, confidential case review. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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