How to Win Your Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a federal law that protects employees and job applicants with disabilities from discrimination in the workplace. According to the ADA, so long as you are able to perform the essential duties of the job, either with reasonable accommodations or without them, then it is illegal for an employer to fire you due to your disability.

If your employer fires you because of your disability, you may have a wrongful termination claim against your employer. You will be required to gather evidence that disability discrimination took place in order to support your claim.

What Does Disability Discrimination Look Like?

When employed it is the duty of the employer not to practice disability discrimination when hiring employees or treating employees on the job. If you believe you have been a victim of disability discrimination you may discover this when a potential employer has refused to hire you based on your disability even though you may be well qualified for the job. Your employer may also deny you a promotion despite having positive appraisals regarding the quality of your work. There have been cases where an employer has offered lower pay to employees with disabilities as well as only allocating less important roles where for example the employee is kept away from the public.

Sometimes an employer will refuse to offer any assistance to employees with disabilities such as providing a ramp for employees who have difficulties with mobility or use a wheelchair. This is considered to be disability discrimination.

The most severe form of disability discrimination is employment termination or being forced to resign based on a disability.

If you believe you are a victim of disability discrimination the easiest way to prove it is to maintain a detailed record of when you are a victim of disability discrimination. Include the place and time when the event occurred and the names of anyone who witnessed it taking place. A disability attorney may be able to help you prove your disability discrimination by carefully compiling all the events you have noted down when discrimination took place.

How to Prove Disability Discrimination at Work

There are several ways you can prove you have been a victim of disability discrimination at work. To do so, you must be sure your employer is aware of your disability and any adverse treatment you have been subjected to at work is based on your disability.

Examples of Disability Discrimination at Work

You request accommodation for your disability, such as providing a ramp for a wheelchair, but it was refused by your employer without good reason.
You were not offered promotion due to your disability but another employee with the same performance evaluation was.
You are a diabetic and need to keep your blood sugar stable by eating more often than a non diabetic employee and you try to negotiate with your employer break times which are three five minute long segments rather than the usual single fifteen minute break. As long as this arrangement doesn’t interfere with your productivity, it shouldn’t be refused.

Types of Evidence You Will Need to Prove Your Disability Discrimination

Correspondence from your employer stating that it is your disability that is stopping you from being given certain employee benefits like promotion or a pay rise.
Verbal communication with a supervisor or co worker who can vouch your disability is causing your negative treatment.

When you are gathering your evidence, you must ensure you keep it and get any witnesses to provide signed statements showing you have been a victim of disability discrimination at work.

How to Win a Disability Discrimination Case

If you believe you have been subjected to discrimination at work due to your disability, the best way for you to win your discrimination case is to provide evidence that proves your discrimination violates the law.

However, before you can win your case, you must be sure that your employer knew about your disability when you were hired and/or was told about your disability when it became apparent. So long as you have this evidence, you should have examples of conduct or statements that show your employer’s discriminatory behavior. This may include the following:

proof that your employer knew about your disability;
evidence that your disability still qualified you for the job;
proof that your employer refuses to offer reasonable accommodation for your disability such as allowing you to sit more often because you suffer from back pain;
proof of breach of confidentiality when your employer tells others about your disability which otherwise they wouldn’t know about;
proof of degrading comments made about you because of your disability;
proof that you have been harassed due to your disability such as your employer showing annoyance at having to provide accommodation for your disability.

The evidence can be in the form of the following:

an email from your employer stating it was aware of your disability;
coworkers’ statements proving they have witnessed the discrimination;
emails from your employer venting frustration about accommodating your disability;
phone recordings of breaches of confidentiality by telling others about your disability and degrading comments directed at you.

To help you to win your disability discrimination case, you should work with a lawyer who will work on your behalf to get the compensation you deserve.

Disparate Treatment in Regards to Disability

There are many kinds of discrimination that takes place in the workplace. One common form of discrimination is called disparate treatment, which alleges that an employer singled out an employee or group of employees due to their disability. The most important aspect of disparate treatment is that an employee’s disability is the motivating factor for a loss of employment or being overlooked for a position.

An example of disparate treatment in regards to disability would be if your employer excluded you from a project because of your disability if a reasonable accommodation could have been made. No matter the motivation in a given instance, an employer should not exclude you from a project in lieu of providing an accommodation.

Documenting disparate treatment can be tricky, given that so much of the evidence hinges upon proving an employer’s motivation for their actions. However, if there is an established pattern of behavior, such as having a history of age, gender and disability discrimination, then you might be able to document a pattern of discrimination to help support your case.

Disability Discrimination Evidence to Gather

Since motive is such a major factor in determining whether or not an employee lost a job because of a disability, evidence that supports a discrimination claim is very important. The more evidence you can present, the stronger your case will be.

In most cases, the best evidence that you can gather is direct evidence of disparate treatment, which includes examples of conduct or statements that reflect an employer’s discriminatory behavior. This could include disparaging emails about accommodations, comments made to other employees about your disability or even statements made to you directly.

You can put together a list of examples of disability discrimination that includes the following:

Refusal or lack of desire to provide a reasonable accommodation for your position
Breach in confidentiality with regards to your disability. Not all disabilities are immediately evident, so a conversation with another employee about the need for an accommodation would be a violation of your privacy.
Comments or disparaging remarks made about you or your disability
Harassment as a result of your disability. An example of this would be expressing frustration when providing accommodation.

Be sure to include copies of your job evaluation as a reflection of your ability to do your job, which might be able to contradict the reason you were terminated.

Remember, your disability and the nature of your accommodations should remain confidential, between you and your employer, and should not be openly discussed between your employer and other employees. Even if the reason for the accommodation is obvious, such as a special desk for use with a wheelchair, your employer is not permitted to speak to other employees about it.

The more evidence you can provide for your disability discrimination case, the stronger the case will be. It’s important to gather as much information as you can at the earliest possible point, especially if you need to gather statements from coworkers. The sooner you can get their statements, the less likely the important details will be forgotten or left out.

Wrongful Termination For Disability Lawsuit

Federal law ensures a person can’t be fired for a disability. Depending on where you live, individual state laws may also prohibit wrongful termination or a disability.

Unfortunately, not all employers obey these laws. Examples of ways a person may be fired for a disability include the following:

An employer may let an employee go shortly after they reveal their disability, indicating the employer might be engaging in discrimination
An employer might fire an employee as a way to avoid making a reasonable accommodation for their disability
If an employee with a disability filed a complaint or claim due to workplace discrimination, an employer may fire them in an act of retaliation
Some employers fire employees with disabilities due to stereotypes regarding the ability of said employees to do their jobs
Employers may push employees with disabilities into early retirement

Hopefully, you will never be a victim of wrongful termination for disability. However, if this has happened, be aware that you may be able to pursue justice by filing a discrimination claim.

Taking legal action in these circumstances can potentially offer you a means of seeking financial compensation if you’ve lost a job as a result of disability discrimination. In some scenarios, you might also be able to pursue reinstatement to a job from which an employer fired you.

Be aware that an employer may fabricate a legal reason for letting you go. Thus, before filing a claim, complaint, or lawsuit, it’s important to gather substantial evidence indicating your disability was the reason for losing your job.

How an Employee Rights Lawyer Can Help

With so much evidence to gather and paperwork to file, working with an attorney who specializes in employment law and employee rights can be very helpful. You’ll have someone advocating on your behalf who understands the process and knows what kind of evidence will help to make your case stronger. An employment attorney will know how to get statements from witnesses, obtain documents from your employer and even request copies of video surveillance systems as needed.

Fill out a free case evaluation form to have your disability discrimination claim sent to an attorney who handles cases in your area. Some employment lawyers work on a contingency fee basis and only require payment if they win your case, while others work for an hourly rate. Make sure you understand your prospective employment attorney’s fee structure in advance.

Speak with an employment lawyer for FREE!