In one case, an employee claimed that supervisors and coworkers harassed him due to his non-work-related back injury.1 They used profane language, berated him for his inability to perform certain tasks, deliberately assigned him work beyond his medical restrictions, instructed other employees not to speak to disabled employees and refused to allow him to test for another position in the company.

The court found that the employee was entitled to file a hostile environment harassment claim under the ADA, which prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability.2

In one California trial, an employee suffered from allergic rhinitis, which is a condition where exposure to chemicals, such as cleaning agents and perfumes, caused him to have extreme allergic reactions. After a month-long trial on claims of a hostile work environment, disability discrimination, retaliation and more — in which he alleged he received egregious, harassing treatment from his supervisor and colleagues, and testified during the trial that the supervisor sprayed his work area with perfume and told staff members to cover for her — a jury awarded the employee more than $3 million in damages.3

In a different disability harassment case, a California appellate court upheld a $500,000 jury award to an employee whose coworkers mocked and mimicked his stutter, as did his supervisor, at least a dozen times of a two-year period, which the employee described as embarrassing, demeaning, harmful and hurtful.4

In upholding the award, the court reasoned that the law is clear: Harassment occurs when a workplace is “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule and insult” that is “sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim’s employment and create an abusive working environment.” For more information, see Harassment.

1. Fox v. General Motors Corp., 247 F.3d 169 (4th Cir. 2001)