When you are disabled, you have certain rights under California and federal law. This could include the right to disability leave or to workplace accommodations that enable you to work despite your disabling condition.
These rights apply regardless of whether your disability is permanent or temporary. The nature of your disability matters more than the duration.
An award-winning disability discrimination lawyer at can help you to understand if your disability qualifies for protections and can assist you if your employer violates your rights.
To find out more about how we can help, give us a call or contact us online today. You can also read on to learn about the key differences between temporary and permanent disability and the rights that you have when you have any sort of disabling condition.
Temporary vs. permanent disabilities
Temporary disabilities are conditions that cause you to experience impairments in major life activities for a limited period of time. Examples can include:
- Serious short-term medical conditions like a temporary illness or a period of acute stress (not minor illnesses like a cold or the flu)
- Broken bones
- Surgery recovery
- Complications related to pregnancy
Permanent disabilities, on the other hand, are disabilities that are going to impact you for the rest of your life. Examples can include:
- Long-term mental health disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or depression
- Permanent physical impairment such as an amputation or paralysis
- Chronic illnesses like diabetes, MS, or Parkinson’s
- Terminal illnesses like metastatic cancer
These disabilities will affect you on an ongoing basis for the remainder of your life and may require ongoing medical care and accommodations in the workplace.
What are your rights in the workplace?
Both California and federal law provide you with certain protections at work when you have either a temporary or a permanent disability. The key is that the disabling condition must affect your ability to perform major life functions.
Under federal law, your impairment must substantially limit your abilities to be entitled to protection. California law provides broader protection, covering disabilities that just limit you rather than substantially limit you.
Whether your disability is temporary or permanent isn’t the key factor — it’s whether it causes the required level of impairment for any amount of time. If so, you may be entitled to:
- Take protected leave from work for up to 12 weeks for serious health conditions (and, in California, in some cases, this leave is paid leave under State Disability Insurance (SDI) or Paid Family Leave laws).
- Protection against discrimination in the terms and conditions of your employment based on your disability status.
- Reasonable accommodations to allow you to work even with your disabling condition
If your employer or coworkers create a hostile work environment based on your disability, or if a company imposes testing or other workplace requirements that have the effect of disqualifying more disabled individuals without a bona fide job-related reason for the requirements, your employer may also be in violation of worker protection laws.
You may be entitled to remedies including back pay, reinstatement, and sometimes punitive damages if this happens to you.
How a California disability discrimination lawyer can help you
If you have a temporary or permanent disability and your employer has discriminated against you or failed to provide reasonable accommodations due to your disability, Yadegar, Minoofar & Soleymani, LLP is here to help. Give our employment attorney a call or contact us online today to schedule your free consultation and learn more about.