Employer’s failure may be disability discrimination
PATRICIA Hancock was a warehouse worker for Time Warner Cable for 8 years in its Bellflower facility. Part of her job was to pull heavy pallets of cable boxes. In August 2011, she injured her neck and reported it to her supervisor. According to Hancock, the supervisor responded “OK” without looking up from his computer. She continued to work and finish her shift that day. When she came home, she drank a prescription painkiller, which was leftover from a previous prescription related to a prior surgery that she had undergone.
The next day, Hancock called her supervisor to request sick leave to recover from her neck injuries. Instead of granting the leave, her supervisor ordered her to report to work for a drug test. With the painkiller medication running through her system, Hancock allowed herself to be drug-tested. When the employer received the results, the supervisor told the company’s human resources manager that Hancock tested positive for illegal drugs, which was a violation of company policy. Hancock was fired a few days after she reported her disability. She was then 59 years old.
Hancock sued Time Warner for wrongful termination, particularly for failure to reasonably accommodate disability and failure to engage in the interactive process with a disabled employee.
In California, an employer is generally obligated to provide a reasonable accommodation to disabled employees. In order to find out what reasonable accommodation can be extended to the employee, the employer must enter into a good-faith, interactive process to determine if there is a reasonable accommodation that would allow the employee to keep working.
The law provides some guidelines in what constitutes as an “interactive process” between the employer and the disabled employee. These include consulting with the employee to find out what the employee’s limitations are that prevent him or her from doing the job, finding out how the employee could do their job with a reasonable accommodation, and identifying potential accommodations and assessing their effectiveness.
The employer must enter into the interactive process in “good faith.” This means that both employer and employee must communicate directly with each other and provide important information related to the disability. Neither party can delay or interfere with the process. To demonstrate good-faith in the interactive process, the employer should show cooperation by identifying and carrying out an appropriate accommodation for the disabled employee. An employer’s failure to engage in the interactive process in good faith is itself a violation of California law.
In the case against Time Warner, there was little evidence to show that the employer engaged Hancock in an interactive process to find out her physical limitations, and whether she could continue to perform her job. Instead, as Hancock argued, the employer found a pretextual reason for firing her instead.
Hancock’s case was tried before a jury. After listening to both sides, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the employee, awarding her $692,545 in compensatory damages (including $89,267 in lost income, and $53,279 in future lost income). And perhaps, to show to the employer the gravity of the violation, the jury awarded the employee over $2 million in punitive damages. The employer has formally asked the court to overturn the verdict and set a new trial.
There are employers, both large and small, who continue to remain ignorant of their duties and responsibilities towards injured and disabled employees. If injured/disabled employees find themselves in a situation where their immediate supervisors or managers fail or refuse to engage them in an interactive process to find reasonable accommodation for their medical condition or disability, they would be smart to consult with an experienced employment attorney to protect themselves.
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The Law Offices of C. Joe Sayas, Jr. welcomes inquiries about this topic. All inquiries are confidential and at no-cost. Atty. Sayas’ Law Office is located at 500 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 980, Glendale, CA 91203. You can contact the office at (818) 291-0088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com.
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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is trial attorney who has obtained several million dollar recoveries for his clients against employers and insurance companies. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum.