Disability Discrimination

The Scharfman Law Firm, PLLC represents clients in disability discrimination claims all over Texas and the United States, and is an aggressive advocate for our clients and their rights. We are committed to helping employees fight for their rights when they have been unlawfully discriminated against because of their disability or because they are unlawfully perceived to suffer from a disability.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, both of which apply to employers with 15 or more employees, qualified individuals with disabilities are protected from discrimination in employment in the following examples:

  • Hiring and firing;
  • Compensation, assignment, or classification of employees;
  • Transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall;
  • Job advertisements;
  • Recruitment;
  • Testing;
  • Use of company facilities;
  • Training and apprenticeship programs;
  • Fringe benefits;
  • Pay, retirement plans, and disability leave;
  • Harassment/hostile work environment on the basis of such disability;
  • Employment decisions based on stereotypes or assumptions about the abilities, traits, or performance of individuals with a disability;
  • Denying employment opportunities to a person because of marriage to, or association with, an individual with a disability; or
  • Other terms and conditions of employment.

(Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Publication; Questions and Answers: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – as to the ADA).

An individual with a disability under the ADA is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having an actual or perceived impairment that is not both transitory and minor.  Major life activities can include such activities as caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working.  The operation of major bodily functions such as functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions are also major life activities.

(Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Publication; Questions and Answers: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – as to the ADA; ADA Amendments Act of 2008).

An impairment that is episodic or in remission is a disability if it would substantially limit a major life activity when active.

(ADA Amendments Act of 2008).

A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is someone who satisfies skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the position held or desired, and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of that position.

(Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Publication; Questions and Answers: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – as to the ADA).

Qualified individuals with a disability are generally entitled to a reasonable accommodation unless it poses an undue hardship for the employer. Types of reasonable accommodations can vary.

Such potential disability discrimination claims are viewed on a case-by-case basis.

Certain filing deadlines and statutes of limitations apply to these claims.

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