Disability question.

What is the name of your state? California

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum, if not, I apologize!

Anyway, I work for a company that requires injured employees (IOD or not) to sign a 90 day contract upon returning to work on light duty status. If the employee maintains light duty status for 90 days, he/she has to return to either 4850 time or disability leave (unpaid) until that person can return to full duty.

Recently, a female employee has been diagnosed with a high risk pregnancy. She is currently in her 3rd week of pregnancy. We have just learned that she has been granted a light duty assignment until she's granted maternity leave (FMLA), which, of course, is another 12 weeks.

We currently have several employees off, since their contracts have expired, either exhausting their 4850 time or in an unpaid status. Can there be a "double standard" due to the pregnancy issue?

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires employers to treat pregnant employees as they would any other employee with a short-term disability. It doesn't require the reverse.

mitousmom said:

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires employers to treat pregnant employees as they would any other employee with a short-term disability. It doesn't require the reverse.

Click to expand...

That makes no sense!

If you can't discriminate by treating pregnancy differently than a short-term disability, then you should not be able treat someone with a short-term disability any different than the pregnant subject. In other words, you can't FAVOR pregnant employees, period! Based on the PDA, the condition should be treated fairly and equally to any injury/disability ... correct? So why different standards?

Failure to Accommodate

The other employees might have a claim for failure to accommodate under either the FEHA or the ADA. In certain cases, an employee must be kept on light duty INDEFINITELY. It is up to the doctors and the working conditions to dictate how long they are on light duty...not a contract.

Each of these employees who have been forced to reduce hours or go on unpaid status could have a claim under this analysis.

The federal ADA, or Americans with Disabilities Act, only covers individuals with a qualified disability. A qualified disability has a specific meaning and most individuals who are on light duty with an expectation of returning to full duty will not meet the definition for disability under the ADA.