people with disabilities including
veterans with disabilities deserve equal
opportunities to pursue the careers they
want unfortunately discrimination in
hiring and at the workplace is still
Comedy I'm Leah an attorney from
disability rights Texas and in this
video we'll talk about what to do if you
face discrimination and how employers
are supposed to accommodate disabilities
in the workplace generally speaking if
you're someone with a disability who can
perform the job laws against disability
discrimination protect your rights
employers cannot discriminate against
you on the job application in the hiring
process or when considering promotions
pay treatment or firing almost all
organizations are covered by these laws
but there are exceptions for example
these laws don't cover companies with
fewer than 15 employees and they do not
protect current armed services members
the law covers most conditions people
think of as disabilities including PTSD
severe depression and many kinds of
physical injuries mobility impairments
and hearing impairments but remember a
disability recognized by the VA or
social security is not automatically
considered a disability under these
discrimination laws the laws also
protect people who no longer have a
disability but are discriminated against
because of their history of a disability
in the past a workplace is required to
make reasonable accommodations for
people with disabilities these are
changes to the workplace that help a
person do the essential functions of the
job help with applying for a job or help
with other parts of the job for example
closer parking and access to training to
get an accommodation at your workplace
you usually have to ask for one it's
best to do so in writing remember your
accommodation needs to be reasonable so
for example if you have a medical need
that will prevent you from working don't
request indefinitely instead ask for
leave for a period of time with a
proposed return to work date or for
example if you are having issues with
job responsibilities instead of
asking that your employer create a new
job for you as for some changes to the
current job or for a reassignment how
you ask is important as well showing
that you're flexible can encourage your
employer's to work with you but also
your request might be read by a judge or
a jury some day and you'll want to show
how reasonable you've been you may need
to disclose your disability or confirm
it with proof like a doctor's note if
your employer asks not providing a
reasonable accommodation is one form of
discrimination but there are others like
retaliation harassment and
discriminating against you because of
the disability of your friend or family
member if you feel like you are
experienced discrimination the next step
is to file an administrative charge
where and when to file an administrative
charge varies be sure to pay attention
to deadlines after that if there still
isn't a resolution to your problem you
may take steps to file a lawsuit but you
must file this charge first everyone
should have equal access to jobs and not
be discriminated against at the
workplace thanks for watching those are
your basic rights at work if you want to
find out more check out the disability
rights Texas website at dr TX org or
visit us on Facebook and Twitter
disability rights Texas thanks a Travis
County Women Lawyers Association for
providing funding to make this video
closet the information in this video is
not intended to and does not replace an
attorney's advice or assistance based on
your particular situation
produced by rooted in rights