La discriminación

The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities. Discrimination happens when you are treated unfairly or unequally because of your disability. There are many ways that an employer can discriminate against you, including:

• Intentionally not giving you the same job opportunities or benefits as nondisabled coworkers, such as
  • A job
  • A promotion
  • A competitive salary
• Unintentionally denying you job opportunities or benefits
• Retaliating against you (getting back at you) because of your disability, which can include:
  • Coercion, which means forcing you to do something against your will
  • Intimidation, which means frightening or bullying you to follow the employer’s demands
  • Harassment, which means bothering you with unwanted actions or demands
• Interfering with you, which means making it impossible for you to enjoy the same rights and benefits at work as your nondisabled coworkers

Intentional discrimination happens for many reasons. For example, when an employer does not want to pay for your reasonable accommodations or looks down on you because you are disabled, the employer may do something on purpose to you that is unfair.

Unintentional discrimination usually happens because an employer evaluates or promotes employees in a way that puts disabled people at a disadvantage. The employer usually does not mean to discriminate and does not realize that certain actions or practices are discriminatory.

Retaliation by an employer may happen if a person with a disability or someone on their behalf filed a complaint, gave evidence, or otherwise participated in an investigation to enforce the ADA.

How Do I File a Complaint?

If you believe you have been discriminated against because of your disability, you can file a complaint with the EEOC or the California Civil Rights Department (CRD).

You have to file your discrimination complaint within a certain amount of time or you lose your right to sue. To file your complaint with the EEOC, you have to do so within 300 days (or 10 months) of the date you were discriminated against. You should not wait for the deadline to get too close; file your complaint as soon as you have decided that it is necessary to do so. Contact information for the EEOC is included later in this article.

If it is proven that you have been discriminated against, you have the right to a solution that will place you in the position you would have been in if the discrimination had never happened. This means you may be entitled to get hired, back pay, or reasonable accommodations. You may also qualify to have the employer pay your lawyer’s fees. To find out whether you qualify as having been discriminated again, contact the EEOC or CRD.

California, the ADA, and the FEHA

California's definition of disability is broader than the federal standard. California’s disability laws and rules direct private businesses and nonprofits, as well as the government, to go beyond the ADA, giving additional protections to employees of businesses in California. The law that addresses the rights of persons with disabilities and the obligations of employers in California is the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) is the office charged with helping you with the FEHA.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

To file a discrimination charge through the EEOC, you can contact any EEOC field office, located in cities throughout the United States or call them at 1-800-669-4000 (TTY 1-800-669-6820).

The EEOC’s website includes good information about how the actual process of filing a complaint works.

California Civil Rights Department (CRD)

To file a discrimination charge through the CRD, you can contact them

• By mail at 2218 Kausen Drive, Suite 100, Elk Grove, CA 95758
• By email at contact.center@dfeh.ca.gov, or
• By phone at 1-800-884-1684

The CRD website has a page dedicated to explaining the steps in filing a complaint. It includes links to contact them.

The California CRD provides a great deal of information online, including:

• How to file a claim
• Details about employment issues
• Summaries of California laws for people with disabilities
• Links to the actual texts of California disability laws and regulations

Protection and Advocacy

You can also contact Disability Rights California when you have questions or problems with reasonable accommodations at work or when you think you are being treated unfairly because of your disability.

Additional Resources

In California, el Departamento de Rehabilitación (DOR) can give you additional information about the ADA and other laws that protect your rights.