California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) requires every employer with five employees or more to make reasonable attempts to accommodate their employee’s work restrictions resulting from either industrial or non-industrial causes. Employers who fail to engage in an interactive process with disabled employees or who fail to provide reasonable accommodations may be subject to legal costs and adverse judgments running into hundreds of thousands of dollars. A Southern California public agency recently paid more than $800,000 in legal fees and damages for refusing to discuss job modification or reassignment with a disabled employee. FEHA complaints and legal actions are more likely due to the recent elimination of the mandatory vocational rehabilitation benefit.
Leno and Associates provides services than can assist employers in minimizing exposure under the FEHA: