Disability discrimination is treating a qualified employee or applicant worse because of a disability, or failing to make a reasonable accommodation the law requires. Most cases turn on how the employer handled a request, not on bad intent.
| Form | What it looks like on the job |
|---|---|
| Disparate treatment | Passing over a qualified worker for a promotion because of a diagnosis |
| Failure to accommodate | Refusing a schedule change or a stool without looking at whether it is workable |
| Screening out | A job requirement that excludes people with disabilities and is not job related |
| Harassment | Jokes or comments about a condition that a supervisor lets continue |
The common thread is a decision about a person based on a condition rather than on whether they can do the essential functions of the job, with or without an accommodation. A clear job description that lists essential functions is often the first document anyone looks at when a decision is questioned.
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A picker on a 10-hour shift tells her lead that she needs to check her blood sugar and eat something small about every 2 hours. The current schedule has one 30-minute meal and no other breaks. The lead’s first answer is that breaks are fixed for everyone.
HR steps in, meets with her, and asks what she needs, which is a 5-minute pause about every 2 hours. The team looks at cost: 3 extra 5-minute pauses a shift is 15 minutes, and since short breaks are paid under federal rules, that is about $5 a shift at $20 an hour. Pick targets are adjusted by 15 minutes. That is not significant difficulty or expense for a warehouse with 140 employees. The change is written down, dated, and her lead is told what changed, not why.
Had the lead’s first answer stood, the company would have refused an accommodation with no assessment at all, which is the kind of decision that is hard to defend later.
When a disability or the need for an accommodation is not obvious, an employer can ask for reasonable documentation, limited to what is needed to establish the disability and the need. It should not ask for complete medical records.
Any medical information the employer receives must be kept confidential and stored separately from the general personnel file. Supervisors can be told about necessary restrictions and accommodations, not the diagnosis. A condition can be a disability even if it is temporary, if it substantially limits a major life activity.
A grocery cashier recovering from a serious back injury asks to sit on a stool for her next four months of shifts. Her provider’s note confirms the limitation and the expected length.
The store does not need her full records. It keeps the note in the confidential medical file, tells her supervisor only that she may use a stool at the register until a set review date, and schedules her on registers where a stool fits. At the review date, the store and the cashier talk again about whether she still needs it.
Employers with 15 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. State laws may cover smaller employers.
An action requiring significant difficulty or expense, judged by factors such as the cost of the accommodation and the employer’s size and resources.
Generally 180 calendar days from the discrimination, extended to 300 days where a state or local agency enforces a law against the same kind of discrimination.
No. A request in plain words that connects a needed change at work to a medical condition is usually enough to start the process.
Yes, when the disability or need is not obvious, limited to what is needed to establish the disability and the need for the accommodation.
It can. A temporary condition can be a disability if it is severe enough to substantially limit a major life activity.
Digital HR forms, e-signatures and a digital employee file with expiry reminders, plus announcements by location, department or role.