California Disability Discrimination Lawyer
If your employer denied your accommodation request, fired or demoted you after you disclosed a disability, or pushed you out after a medical leave, you may have a disability discrimination claim under California law. Our team at Westview Law represents employees across California who were treated unfairly because of a physical disability, mental health condition, medical restriction, or perceived disability.
Speak with a California disability discrimination lawyer today. Free, confidential consultation.
Disability Discrimination in the Workplace
Workplace disability discrimination happens when an employer treats an employee or applicant unfairly because of a physical disability, a mental health condition, a medical restriction, a perceived disability, or a history of disability. Common examples include refusing to hire a qualified applicant after learning of a medical condition, firing or demoting an employee who returns from medical leave, denying a promotion because of a disability, and refusing to discuss or provide a reasonable accommodation.
Discrimination also covers retaliation that is tied to a disability. If your employer cut your hours, changed your role, or pushed you out after you requested an accommodation or reported disability-related mistreatment, that conduct may violate California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A California disability discrimination lawyer can review what happened, identify which protections apply, and explain your options.
Common Forms of Disability Discrimination
Disability discrimination is not always obvious. Some employers move people out quietly. Others build a paper trail that hides the real reason for a firing or a demotion. The conduct below comes up in California disability discrimination cases regularly:
Refusing a reasonable accommodation request — such as a modified schedule, medical leave, remote work, an assistive device, or adjusted job duties
Firing, demoting, or cutting the hours of an employee after learning about a disability, medical condition, or medical history
Harassment or hostile treatment tied to an employee's disability
Denying promotions, raises, or training opportunities because of a disability or perceived disability
Retaliation for requesting accommodations or reporting discrimination
Improper medical inquiries, forced medical disclosures, or unauthorized sharing of an employee's medical information
If any of this looks like what happened at your job, a California disability discrimination lawyer can review the facts, identify whether FEHA or the ADA applies, and explain what remedies are available.
Your Rights Under California and Federal Law
California employees with disabilities are protected by two main statutes: the state Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), enforced by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). FEHA is broader than the ADA in several important ways — it applies to employers with five or more employees (versus 15 under the ADA), it covers a wider range of medical conditions, and it does not require an employee to prove the disability "substantially" limits a major life activity.
Both laws give employees the right to a reasonable accommodation that allows them to perform the essential functions of their job. Both also require employers to engage in a good-faith interactive process once they learn an employee needs disability-related support. And both prohibit retaliation against employees who request accommodations, disclose a disability, take protected medical leave, or file a discrimination complaint. If your rights under FEHA or the ADA were violated, you may be able to recover lost wages, emotional distress damages, reinstatement, or other statutory remedies.
How Our California Disability Discrimination Lawyer Can Help
Disability discrimination cases turn on documentation, timing, and the strength of your evidence. A California disability discrimination lawyer can do several things at once: preserve evidence before your employer destroys it, handle communications so you don't say something the defense can use later, and make sure your filings hit the right agency before the deadline runs out.
1. Case Evaluation and Legal Strategy
We review the timeline of what happened — when you disclosed a disability or requested an accommodation, how your employer responded, what changed at work after that — and we identify which statutory protections apply. Then we lay out the realistic options, including informal resolution, an administrative complaint, or a lawsuit.
2. Evidence Gathering and Documentation
A disability discrimination case is built from medical records, accommodation requests, performance reviews before and after the disclosure, emails between you and HR, personnel files, and witness accounts. We help you collect and preserve this evidence early, because employers routinely "lose" documents once a lawyer gets involved.
3. Handling Employer and HR Communications
Once we represent you, your employer and HR have to communicate through us. This protects you from giving recorded statements you can't take back, from accepting severance language that waives your discrimination claim, and from being pressured into resigning before you understand your options.
4. Filing Administrative Complaints
California disability discrimination claims usually start with an administrative complaint at the California Civil Rights Department (CRD, formerly DFEH) or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The filing deadlines differ — three years from the last act of discrimination for CRD, and 180 to 300 days for the EEOC depending on the claim. We handle the filings and the agency back-and-forth so you don't lose your case to a missed deadline.
5. Negotiation, Settlement, and Trial Representation
Many disability discrimination cases settle before trial. We pursue settlement when the offer reflects what the case is worth, and we take cases to verdict in state or federal court when it does not. Our attorneys represent you through every phase — pre-litigation demand, agency complaint, mediation, discovery, motion practice, and trial.
Types of Compensation You May Recover
Damages in a California disability discrimination case depend on what happened, how it affected you financially and emotionally, and whether the employer's conduct was egregious enough to support punitive damages. The categories below are recoverable under FEHA and the ADA:
Lost wages and lost future earning capacity, including any reduction caused by being forced out of a job because of a disability
Emotional distress damages, which courts recognize as real harm in disability discrimination cases
Medical expenses tied to the discrimination, including therapy or treatment for the emotional impact
Punitive damages where the employer acted with malice, fraud, or oppression
Attorneys’ fees and costs
Why Choose Westview Law for Disability Discrimination Claims
Westview Law is a California employment law firm with attorneys who have tried disability discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination cases to verdict in state and federal court. We focus on disability and accommodation cases — not the broader insurance defense, business law, or transactional work that some employment firms also handle.
We know how HR departments and employer-side counsel build their files, what evidence they discard, and how they pressure employees to accept narrow severance language that waives discrimination claims. We use that experience to protect you from the moment you call us through whatever the case requires — administrative filing, mediation, discovery, or trial. We work on a contingency basis on most disability discrimination cases, so you do not pay a fee unless we recover for you.
Speak With a California Disability Discrimination Lawyer Today
If your employer treated you unfairly because of a disability, denied your accommodation request, or pushed you out after a medical leave, the earlier you talk to a California disability discrimination lawyer, the more options you have. Statutes of limitations move quickly, evidence gets destroyed, and employers move fast to close their files. Contact Westview Law for a free, confidential consultation. We will review what happened, tell you whether you have a viable claim under FEHA or the ADA, and walk you through what comes next.
Speak With a California Disability Discrimination Lawyer Today
Frequently Asked Questions
Employers must provide accommodations unless they can show it would cause undue hardship, meaning significant difficulty or expense. A lawyer can help evaluate whether their claim is valid and push for your rights.
In California, you generally have three years from the date you were last harmed to file a complaint with the CRD for employment disability discrimination. For other cases, you must file within one year from the date you were last harmed. For federal claims under the EEOC, you must be file within 180 days, which can extend to 300 days depending on your state laws.
Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Reach out to our team for personalized insight into your unique case.
We prepare every disability discrimination case as if it will go to trial
