Disability Discrimination Lawyer serving Rockland County, NY and Bergen County, NJ

It is illegal to harass an applicant or employee because he has a disability, had a disability in the past, or is believed to have a physical or mental impairment that is not transitory (lasting or expected to last six months or less) and minor (even if he does not have such an impairment).

Harassment can include, for example, offensive remarks about a person’s disability. Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that aren’t very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).

Which Employers are Required to Comply with the Laws against Disability Discrimination?
Private employers with 15 employees or more, and state and local government agencies, are required to comply with the ADA. New York requires that employers with 4 or more employees comply with the New York Human Rights Law (that protects against disability discrimination).

Not everyone with a medical condition is protected by the law. In order to be protected, a person must be qualified for the job and have a disability as defined by the law.

A person can show that he or she has a disability in one of three ways:

• A person may be disabled if he or she has a physical or mental condition that substantially limits a major life activity (such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, or learning).
• A person may be disabled if he or she has a history of a disability (such as cancer that is in remission).
• A person may be disabled if he is believed to have a physical or mental impairment that is not transitory (lasting or expected to last six months or less) and minor (even if he does not have such an impairment).

The New York State Human Rights Law defines the term disability as:

• “(a) a physical, mental or medical impairment resulting from anatomical, physiological, genetic or neurological conditions which prevents the exercise of a normal bodily function or is demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques or
• (b) a record of such an impairment or
• (c) a condition regarded by others as such an impairment, provided, however, that in all provisions of this article dealing with employment, the term shall be limited to disabilities which, upon the provision of reasonable accommodations, do not prevent the complainant from performing reasonably the activities involved in the job or occupation sought or held.

This definition usually affords a more lenient meaning to the term than the ADA.

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) protects against disability discrimination. Its definition of disability is also much broader than the definition under the ADA. The LAD’s definition includes a physical disability, infirmity, malformation, or disfigurement. It also includes a physical illness or disease. New Jersey also includes non-physical impairments, such as mental, psychological, or developmental disability that either

The LAD applies to businesses with as few as one employee.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the “ADA”) requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities who are employees or applicants for employment, unless doing so would cause undue hardship.

Reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities.”

There are three categories of “reasonable accommodations:
Examples of reasonable accommodations:

• An employee with diabetes may need regularly scheduled breaks during the workday to eat properly and monitor blood sugar and insulin levels.
• A blind employee may need someone to read the information posted on a bulletin board.
• An employee with cancer may need to leave to have radiation or chemotherapy treatments.

An employee needs to expressly request reasonable accommodation unless it is objectively obvious that the employee has a disability and requires accommodation. After an employee makes a request, an employer has a duty to engage in a discussion regarding how to accommodate the employee and to discern if it can make reasonable accommodation.

After a job is offered to an applicant, the law allows an employer to condition the job offer on the applicant answering certain medical questions or successfully passing a medical exam, but only if all new employees in the same type of job have to answer the questions or take the exam.

Once a person is hired and has started work, an employer generally can only ask medical questions or require a medical exam if the employer needs medical documentation to support an employee’s request for an accommodation or if the employer believes that an employee is not able to perform a job successfully or safely because of a medical condition.

The law also requires that employers keep all medical records and information confidential and in separate medical files.

Because each case is unique, I do not believe there is a scripted answer to apply to employment cases. I pay careful attention, especially at the beginning of a case, to make sure the appropriate steps are followed. Someone who has been discriminated against often has options as far as what legal course of action to take. An employee who has been discriminated against should consider all options available to him or her to be able to make the best choice for his or her situation.

My firm is small. However, I believe the personal attention I am able to provide yields insurmountable benefits. I only take on cases that I believe have merit. If I decide to take a case, I set a plan from the beginning, tailored to each specific case’s needs. That is why I believe my approach to handling age discrimination cases is effective. Lead attorney, Karen Zdanis, has both an MBA and a law degree. She began her career consulting with Fortune-type corporations and has been practicing law since 2001. This real world understating of business and how corporations operate gives her an understanding of the issues of age discrimination that cannot just be learned in law school. The firm is small enough to give you the attention you want, but talented and experienced enough to deliver the results you need.

If you have read the above information on disability discrimination and think you are a victim, the first step to deciding whether or not you should pursue a legal action is to understand your rights. I am available for a brief telephone call to determine if your situation rises to the level of a valid legal claim and to discern if it merits an in-person consultation. Good legal counsel is an important component of protecting your rights. If you feel you need a discrimination lawyer call The Zdanis Law Firm – Rockland County, NY: (845) 356-0855, Bergen County, NJ: (201) 695-8005.