Employees who face discrimination at the workplace due to one or more forms of disability can seek justice by engaging an Arlington, Virginia employment law firm. Virginia Labor Laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protect disabled employees from any form of discrimination at the workplace. If you feel you have been discriminated against by your employer, you should hire an experienced attorney to help you.
HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can guide you through a disability claim. We represent clients across Northern Virginia, including Fairfax County, Alexandria, McLean, and the District of Columbia.
Under the law, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to workers with disabilities. This means the employer should create a work environment that is suitable for the employee to perform his or her job.
Disability Discrimination at the Workplace
There are different forms of disability discrimination cases in the workplace. Common examples of discrimination include:
- Refusal to hire due to being disabled
- Denial of promotion due to a disability
- Denial of training due to being disabled
- Suspension or termination of employment due to your disability
- Other actions or activities that negatively affect your terms of employment
There are strict guidelines on what an employer can ask about disabilities during the hiring process. For example, employers are generally prohibited from asking about an employee’s disability or medical condition as a contingency on hiring.
What Constitutes “Reasonable Accommodation” in Virginia?
Reasonable accommodation at the workplace is a deliberate change of environment that is meant to make a disabled person perform his or her essential functions properly. Examples of reasonable accommodation include changing the work schedule to allow a worker to attend regular medical checkups and temporarily limiting the amount of weight a person must lift.
What You Can Do If You Have Been Discriminated Against
If you have suffered any discrimination due to being disabled, there are many steps you can take to find recourse:
- To begin, report the discrimination incident to your human resources department and then contact a Virginia disability rights lawyer.
- If you have a pink slip, contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Apart from this, get in touch with a discrimination attorney.
- Make sure you file a discrimination charge with the EEOC within 180 days from the alleged date when the disability discrimination incident occurred.
What about Retaliation after Filing a Discrimination Complaint
Both federal and Virginia labor laws prohibit employers from taking retaliatory action against an employee who complains or opposes a disability discrimination policy at the workplace. If your employer has retaliated against you for filing a disability discrimination case, contact HKM Employment Attorneys LLP for legal advice. We can set up a Consultation with our employment lawyers.