The Fee Is Free Unless You Win.
Top Rated Employment Law Firm
Protecting Families Since 1995
$500 Million Won
TABLE OF CONTENTS
If you were fired, demoted, or denied a simple accommodation because of a disability, a Los Angeles disability discrimination lawyer can help you fight back.
At Derek Smith Law Group, we have over 30 years of combined experience, and we take these cases personally. When we represent you, your fight becomes our fight. We know how isolating it feels to be punished for something you can’t control, and we know how to hold employers accountable when they cross the line.
You don’t pay us anything unless we win. If a disability cost you your job or your dignity at work, reach out today for a free, confidential case review.
Los Angeles has its own workplace culture, and certain industries here generate these disputes again and again.
The “we need someone who can handle the pace” excuse gets used constantly to sideline people with disabilities. Long hours and unpredictable schedules become a cover for pushing out anyone who needs flexibility, even when accommodating them would’ve been simple.
Fast-growing companies love to talk about culture fit. Too often that becomes code for quietly moving out employees who need remote work, mental health leave, or a modified role. A younger workforce doesn’t make it legal.
It’s a bitter irony, but hospitals and clinics are frequent offenders. Staff who develop back injuries, chronic conditions, or disabilities after years on the job are sometimes treated as liabilities instead of the experienced people they are.
Knowing how these industries operate helps us anticipate the excuses before they’re made. When a Los Angeles disability discrimination attorney has seen the same playbook a hundred times, it’s a lot harder for an employer to run it on you.
Disability is just one of many reasons workers get treated unfairly on the job, and a lot of people are facing more than one kind of discrimination at once. If your situation goes beyond disability, our team handles the full range of workplace discrimination claims, including:
Not sure which one fits your situation? That’s common, and it’s part of what we sort out for you. Derek Smith Law Group will look at the full picture and tell you exactly where you stand.
A lot of people assume discrimination has to be loud or obvious. Usually it isn’t. It’s subtle, and it hides behind “business reasons.” That’s exactly why it’s so hard to prove on your own.
Disability discrimination at work can look like:
That last one is where many of these cases live. And it’s where an experienced Los Angeles disability discrimination attorney can make the difference between a shrug and a settlement, because employers rarely admit the real reason out loud. Building the timeline, gathering the emails, and connecting the dots is the job of a lawyer.
Some conditions come up again and again, too. For example, we handle a lot of cases involving disability discrimination based on diabetes, where workers get punished over short breaks to eat, test their blood sugar, or see a doctor, even though those needs are simple to accommodate.
Under California law, your employer usually has to work with you when a disability affects how you do your job. This is called the “interactive process,” and it’s a two-way conversation. You request an accommodation, and they’re supposed to seriously explore whether it’s possible.
A reasonable accommodation for a disability might be something as small as:
Here’s what trips up so many employers in Los Angeles: denying an accommodation isn’t just refusing outright. It can also be ignoring your request, dragging their feet for months, or firing you instead of having the conversation at all.
If your accommodation was denied in Los Angeles and no one ever really tried to work it out, that shutdown may be the strongest evidence you have.
Most people don’t have that email chain organized or know which deadlines apply. We do. Derek Smith Law Group builds the record so the failure becomes clear to anyone looking at it, especially a jury.
Let’s be straight about something. Disability discrimination cases tend to land hard with juries, and that matters for you.
Jurors understand illness and injury. Most of them have a family member who’s dealt with something serious. So when they hear that a company refused to let someone adjust a schedule for chemo, or fired a loyal employee weeks after a diagnosis, they get angry in a way they don’t with drier disputes. That sympathy is your leverage.
But leverage only works if it’s used well. A strong claim that’s presented poorly can still fall flat. This is where hiring a seasoned disability discrimination lawyer serving Los Angeles pays off, because we know how to tell your story in a way that’s honest, human, and impossible to ignore, while backing it up with documentation the other side can’t explain away.
In California, disability discrimination claims are governed mainly by a law called FEHA (the Fair Employment and Housing Act). In plain terms, FEHA is broader and more protective than federal law, which is good news for California workers.
Many cases start with a filing through the state’s Civil Rights Department, still often called DFEH, whose Los Angeles office handles a heavy volume of these complaints.
Under FEHA, you generally have three years to file that complaint, and one year from any “right–to–sue“ notice to file suit. From there, litigation may end up in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Each of those steps has deadlines and procedures, and missing one can sink an otherwise strong claim. You shouldn’t have to become an expert in any of this while you’re also dealing with lost income and stress.
That’s the entire point of having a lawyer handle it. At Derek Smith Law Group, we manage all of the paperwork and deadlines so you can focus on your life.
When disability discrimination is proven, the law allows you to pursue real compensation, not just an apology. Depending on your situation, that can include:
Every case is different, and no honest attorney can promise a number. What we can promise is a straight answer about what your claim is realistically worth.
If your employer treated your disability as a reason to get rid of you instead of a reason to work with you, don’t wait and don’t second-guess yourself. Deadlines can creep up on you, and the sooner we start, the more we can do.
Derek Smith Law Group has spent decades taking on employers who thought no one would push back. We’ll review your situation for free, explain your options in plain English, and if we take your case, you won‘t owe us a dime unless we win. Reach out today to get started.
