Under FEHA, the mere act of requesting a reasonable accommodation is protected, and an employer can’t discriminate or retaliate against a person for requesting the accommodation — regardless of whether the request was granted.3

If you fail to provide a disabled employee with reasonable accommodation and that failure results in an injury, the employee may be able to recover damages for that injury under FEHA.

In one case, an employee who suffered disabilities resulting from her prior affliction with polio requested certain accommodations to help her overcome difficulties moving in and about the workplace. The employer refused, so she filed a complaint with the CRD about the failure to accommodate. She then suffered physical injury and alleged that it resulted from that failure to accommodate.

The employer argued that the employee couldn’t file a FEHA lawsuit for physical injury because she was protected by workers’ compensation law, but the court disagreed. It ruled that because her physical injury claim could be related to the employer’s failure to accommodate her disability, which is an unfair employment practice under FEHA, she should have a trial to prove if her injury resulted from that failure.4

Timely Complaint

When an employee’s request for accommodation is rejected by an employer, that individual must make a timely complaint to the appropriate enforcement agency, the EEOC or the CRD, or the claim is barred.5 However, a chain of related unlawful events of an ongoing unlawful pattern or practice extends the time limits during which an employee can file a claim, as distinguished by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. For more information, see Filing a Discrimination Claim Under Federal Law.

1. Govt. Code sec. 12940(m)