Los Angeles Disability Discrimination Lawyer

Get a Free Consultation

Short answer: if your employer fired you, demoted you, harassed you, or refused to accommodate you because of a disability, an injury, or a medical condition, California law is strongly on your side, and stronger than federal law. This page explains what counts as disability discrimination in California, what your employer was legally required to do, how the Civil Rights Department complaint process works, what you can recover, and the deadlines that decide whether you can still bring a claim. This page is about discrimination by employers against employees and job applicants; it does not cover ADA access, housing, or public-accommodation disputes. Free, confidential consultation. Call 24/7, English and Spanish: (888) 772-2529.

What is workplace disability discrimination under California law?

Disability discrimination is when an employer treats you worse because of a physical or mental disability, a medical condition, or a condition the employer believes you have. In California the governing law is the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code section 12940. It prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, pay, promotion, training, assignments, and every other term of employment, and it separately requires employers to reasonably accommodate a known disability and to engage in a good-faith interactive process to find an accommodation. Failing either duty is unlawful on its own, even if you were never fired.

Abdi & Associates, Inc. helps individuals with disability discrimination claims throughout California. Because we also handle workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability in-house, we routinely see the situation where one injury or illness creates two or three separate legal claims, and we screen for all of them.

FEHA vs. the ADA at work: why California employees have more protection

Most people have heard of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Fewer know that California’s FEHA is broader on almost every point that matters to an employee.

Employer size. FEHA covers employers with 5 or more employees (Gov. Code § 12926(d)). The ADA requires 15 (42 U.S.C. § 12111(5)). FEHA’s harassment provisions reach employers of any size.
Definition of disability. FEHA protects a condition that limits a major life activity; the ADA requires one that substantially limits it. California’s Legislature made this difference deliberate (Gov. Code § 12926.1). Working itself is a major life activity, and a condition is evaluated without regard to medication, assistive devices, or other mitigating measures.
Damages. Federal ADA compensatory and punitive damages are capped by employer size, from $50,000 to $300,000 (42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3)). FEHA has no such cap.
Deadlines. FEHA gives you three years to file an administrative complaint. Federal charges in California generally must be filed within 300 days.
Medical conditions. FEHA separately protects “medical condition,” which includes cancer, a record or history of cancer, and genetic characteristics (Gov. Code § 12926(i)).

Physical disabilities, chronic illnesses, mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD and bipolar disorder, and work injuries that leave lasting restrictions can all qualify. So can a temporary condition while it limits you. And if an employer acted on a mistaken belief that you were disabled, the law treats that as discrimination too.

What your employer was legally required to do

Reasonable accommodation

An employer must make reasonable accommodation for the known disability of an employee or applicant unless it can prove the accommodation would cause undue hardship (Gov. Code § 12940(m)). Accommodation is not a favor; it is a legal duty. Examples the law and the regulations recognize include:

Modified or reduced duties, or restructuring a job’s non-essential functions
Part-time or modified schedules, including start-time changes for treatment
Leave for treatment or recovery, even beyond what a leave statute requires, when a finite leave would likely allow you to return
Equipment, ergonomic changes, assistive technology, or a different workstation
Reassignment to a vacant position you are qualified for
Working from home where the job allows it
Changing how supervision or training is delivered

“We don’t have light duty” is not a defense if a reasonable accommodation existed. “It would be inconvenient” is not undue hardship. The employer has to show significant difficulty or expense measured against its size and resources.

The interactive process

Separately, an employer must engage in a “timely, good faith, interactive process” with you to identify an effective accommodation once it knows, or has reason to know, that you need one (Gov. Code § 12940(n); Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 11069). You do not have to use magic words. Handing in a doctor’s note with restrictions, asking for a schedule change because of a condition, or returning from medical leave with limitations is enough to trigger the duty. Employers who answer accommodation requests with silence, delay, a flat “no,” or a termination letter violate this duty on its own. We wrote a dedicated page on the interactive process and what a failure looks like.

What workplace disability discrimination looks like in practice

Fired, laid off, or “restructured” out shortly after disclosing a condition, requesting accommodation, or returning from medical leave
Terminated after a work injury instead of being offered modified duty, a pattern we see constantly in our workers’ compensation cases
Refused hire, promotion, or training because of a medical condition or medical history
Written up, harassed, isolated, or micromanaged after asking for help
Told there is “no light duty” and sent home indefinitely while the position is filled
Pressured to resign, or presented with a severance agreement, right after a diagnosis or leave
Denied leave or punished for taking protected medical leave
Retaliated against for filing a workers’ compensation claim or for complaining about discrimination

Retaliation for requesting accommodation or opposing discrimination is itself unlawful under FEHA (Gov. Code § 12940(h)), and it is often the easier claim to prove because the timing speaks for itself.

Medical leave and disability: how CFRA, FMLA, and accommodation fit together

Three overlapping rules matter when you need time off for your own condition:

CFRA (California Family Rights Act, Gov. Code § 12945.2) gives eligible employees of employers with 5 or more employees up to 12 workweeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition.
FMLA (federal) provides similar leave but only for employers with 50 or more employees.
Leave as a reasonable accommodation under FEHA can extend beyond CFRA or FMLA when a finite additional leave would likely enable you to return to work.

The practical point: running out of CFRA or FMLA leave does not automatically let an employer fire you. If a defined additional period of leave was a reasonable accommodation, ending your employment at the twelve-week mark can itself be disability discrimination. Pregnancy-related conditions have their own additional protections; see our pregnancy discrimination page.

Hurt at work and then pushed out? You may have two cases

This is where our in-house workers’ compensation practice matters. If your disability came from a work injury and your employer then failed to accommodate you or terminated you, you may have a workers’ compensation claim and a separate FEHA discrimination case, with different deadlines, different forums, and different remedies. Workers’ compensation pays defined benefits for the injury itself. A FEHA case can recover lost wages, emotional distress, and, in egregious cases, punitive damages, none of which workers’ compensation provides. Labor Code section 132a adds a further claim before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board when an employer punishes a worker for filing a comp claim. Many comp attorneys never screen for the second and third cases. It is the first thing we look for.

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) complaint process

Before you can sue under FEHA you must file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) and obtain a right-to-sue notice (Gov. Code § 12965). The process, step by step:

File an intake with CRD. This is done online through CRD’s complaint system. The complaint identifies the employer, the protected basis (disability, medical condition), and the adverse actions.
Choose investigation or immediate right-to-sue. CRD can investigate and attempt resolution, or, when you are represented by an attorney, you can request an immediate right-to-sue notice so the case can go directly to court. Which path is better depends on the evidence, the employer, and your goals.
Receive the right-to-sue notice. The notice starts a one-year clock to file a civil lawsuit.
File in superior court. A FEHA lawsuit is filed in California superior court, where a jury can award the full range of damages described below.

A federal EEOC charge is a separate, optional route with shorter deadlines and capped damages; for most California disability cases the CRD path is the stronger one.

Deadlines that decide whether you still have a case

3 years from the discriminatory act to file a complaint with CRD (Gov. Code § 12960(e)).
1 year from the date of the right-to-sue notice to file a civil lawsuit (Gov. Code § 12965(c)).
300 days to file a federal EEOC charge in California (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(1)), if you choose the federal route.
Workers’ compensation and Labor Code 132a claims have their own, generally shorter, limitation periods.

Exceptions can move these dates in either direction, and the evidence (emails, texts, personnel files, witness memories, surveillance video) degrades long before any deadline. Confirm your exact deadline with an attorney rather than assuming.

What you can recover in a FEHA disability discrimination case

Back pay: wages and benefits lost from the adverse action to judgment
Front pay or reinstatement, where returning is not realistic
Emotional distress damages for the anxiety, humiliation, and disruption caused
Punitive damages where the employer acted with malice, oppression, or fraud
Attorney’s fees and costs, which a court may order the employer to pay on top of your recovery (Gov. Code § 12965(c)(6))

Unlike workers’ compensation, a FEHA case compensates the human cost, not just the economic one, and there is no statutory cap on compensatory or punitive damages.

What to do right now

Put your accommodation request in writing if you have not already, even a short email: what your condition limits and what change would help.
Save everything: emails, texts, doctor’s notes, write-ups, performance reviews, the employee handbook, and any severance offer.
Write a timeline with dates, names, and what was said while it is fresh.
Do not sign a severance agreement without having it reviewed. Severance offers routinely ask you to waive exactly these claims for far less than they are worth.
Keep treating and keep your medical records organized; they prove both the disability and the limitation.
Do not resign before talking to a lawyer. Quitting can complicate a claim that was otherwise strong.

Denied Social Security Disability benefits instead?

If your problem is not an employer mistreating you but the Social Security Administration denying your SSDI or SSI claim, that is a different case with different rules, and we handle those too, nationwide. Many people have both: a job lost to a condition, and a benefits claim for the same condition. One call sorts out which situations you have: (888) 772-2529.

Frequently asked questions

My employer says it only has a few employees, so the law does not apply. Is that true?

FEHA’s discrimination and accommodation rules apply to employers with five or more employees, and its harassment protections apply to employers of any size. Do not take the employer’s word for the headcount; part-time and temporary workers count.

I was still in my probationary period. Do I have rights?

Yes. FEHA protects applicants and new employees the same as long-tenured ones. At-will employment does not license discrimination.

My condition is temporary. A back injury that is healing. Am I covered?

Often yes. California’s definition covers a condition that limits a major life activity even temporarily, and the duty to accommodate applied while you were limited.

Do I have to tell my employer my diagnosis?

Generally no. You need to tell the employer enough to make it aware that you have a limitation and need an accommodation; you do not have to disclose the underlying diagnosis. The employer can ask for reasonable medical documentation of the functional limitation.

What if my employer says the accommodation is too expensive?

The employer must prove undue hardship, meaning significant difficulty or expense measured against its overall size, resources, and operations. Cost alone rarely meets that standard for a common accommodation.

Does my immigration status matter?

No. FEHA protects all California workers regardless of immigration status, and your consultation is confidential. An employer that threatens to report your immigration status because you asserted your rights is committing a separate violation of California law.

Can I be fired while on medical leave?

Not because of the leave or the condition. An employer can end employment for a legitimate reason unrelated to the disability, but the timing of a termination during or immediately after leave is powerful evidence of a discriminatory motive.

I am not in Los Angeles. Can you help?

Yes. FEHA is a statewide law. Abdi & Associates helps individuals with disability discrimination claims across California, with consultations by phone.

What does it cost?

No attorney fee up front. Disability discrimination cases are handled on a contingency-fee basis, so a fee is paid only out of money recovered for you. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee. In many cases California law also allows the court to order the employer to pay your attorney’s fees on top of your recovery.

Talk to us today. Free consultation, no attorney fee unless there is a recovery: (888) 772-2529, any time, day or night. Hablamos español.

Primary sources: Cal. Gov. Code §§ 12926, 12926.1, 12940, 12945.2, 12960, 12965; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 2, § 11069; Cal. Lab. Code § 132a; 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981a, 2000e-5, 12111; California Civil Rights Department (calcivilrights.ca.gov).

Reviewed by Shawn Abdi, Esq., Abdi & Associates, Inc. Last updated: September 2, 2026. Attorney advertising. This page is general information, not legal advice about your specific situation. Legal deadlines have exceptions; confirm yours with an attorney. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.