What does a disability discrimination lawyer do?

The legal core: accommodation and the interactive process

California and federal law both require employers to engage in good-faith discussion, called the interactive process, once they know an employee needs a disability accommodation. This is a two-way conversation about what adjustments might work — not a single request that must be granted exactly as asked, and not a box an employer can check once and forget.

Where California goes further than the ADA

California's FEHA defines disability more broadly than the federal ADA. It covers conditions that only need to limit a major life activity to some degree, not substantially, and it protects employees regarded as having a disability even if they don't actually have one. That means more employees qualify for protection in California than federal law alone would cover.

Where the line actually is

Having a disability doesn't make an employee untouchable — an employer can still enforce real job requirements and address genuine performance problems. What the law requires is a real attempt to accommodate first. If that step was skipped, rushed, or never happened, that gap is usually the strongest part of a claim.