Under California disability laws, an employer has an affirmative obligation to engage with an employee who has actual or perceived disability (or medical condition) in an interactive process or direct communication to find reasonable accommodations to his or her condition.   

After the employer provides an initial accommodation, the employer's duty under the law does not end, but the duty to re-initiate the interactive process is only triggered if the employer learns or the employee advises the employer that the offered accommodation is not working. The interactive process envisions a continuous flow and exchange of information between employee and employer.

Once an employer has provided an accommodation, there must be a continuous reassessment of whether the provided accommodation continues to be effective, but only if the employee notifies employer of that need or if the employer should reasonable know of such need, based on the obvious condition and the difficulties that the employee continues to experience and the employer witnesses.

If you work and reside in the Stockton area, and have questions about your rights as a disabled or potentially disabled worker, feel free to contact experienced California employment lawyer in the Stockton area for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your concerns.

Many employees suffering from a disability or a particular medical condition qualify for FMLA leave, under which they are entitled to be placed on unpaid leave for up to 12 weeks in a year, assuming that certain FMLA conditions are satisfied. 

However, very few employees are aware that upon expiration of FMLA leave, they might be entitled to additional time off as a reasonable accommodation to their disability / medical condition. Under California law, an employer must engage with an employee in a good faith interactive process to find out if the employee may be provided reasonable accommodation to his or her disability / medical condition at workplace. One of those reasonable accommodations can be extending the employee's leave beyond FMLA leave, unless this extended leave would impose undue hardship on the employer's business. An employer who fails to engage in this interactive process to investigate whether reasonable accommodations can be provided to the disabled / sick employee may be liable for disability discrimination, failure to accommodation and other violations of employment laws in California. 

If you believe that your employer did not fulfill it's obligation under California law and you would like to discuss your situation at workplace, contact San Francisco employment attorney Arkady Itkin for a free, no-obligation consultation.