Disability Rights
Individuals with actual or perceived disabilities are particularly vulnerable to discrimination in employment. The law protects many people with disabilities, including people with mental health or other “hidden” disabilities, from employment-related discrimination. In addition, the law may require that an employer eliminate barriers for workers with disabilities and provide other reasonable accommodations that allow these workers to perform their jobs.
Find out what rights protect people with disabilities and what rights you have if you have become temporarily disabled because of a work-related injury or illness. If you need further information or assistance, contact the Workers’ Rights Clinic.
Fact Sheets and Other Self-Help Tools
- Disabilities in the Workplace: An Introduction to State and Federal Laws printer-friendly version
- Disabilities in the Workplace: Reasonable Accommodations printer-friendly version
- Disabilities in Higher Education printer-friendly version
- State Disability Insurance: An Overview printer-friendly version
- Family/Medical Leave: Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Bonding
- Family/Medical Leave: Your Own Serious Health Condition printer-friendly version
- Sample Letter from Health Care Provider Supporting Need for Leave of Absence Under ADA or FEHA Word format
- Sample Letter from Health Care Provider Supporting Need for Accommodation Other Than Leave of Absence Under ADA or FEHA Word format
- Hiring a Labor or Employment Lawyer printer-friendly version
- Handbook: Helping Injured Employees Return to Work (pdf)
- Best Practices in Returning an Injured Employee to Work (pdf)
- Workers’ Compensation (CA): Federal Employees printer-friendly version
Key Resources
- CA Department of Fair Employment and Housing
- US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- CA Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers’ Compensation, Information & Assistance Bureau
- CA Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board
- US Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP)