Disability Discrimination Based on Diabetes

Diabetes Disability Discrimination Is Not Acceptable in New York City Workplaces

Diabetes limits the endocrine system and can have crippling consequences for workers who have it. If you suffer from diabetes, you may wonder whether your employer’s adverse actions count as discrimination for purpose of bringing a lawsuit. It is crucial to call trusted New York City diabetes discrimination lawyers about your situation. At Phillips & Associates, we represent workers who have been harmed by diabetes disability discrimination. Our firm seeks the best results for clients discriminated against, whether by large or small employers, and we have secured millions of workers.

Talk to Phillips & Associates About Whether You Have a Disability Discrimination Lawsuit

You may be protected from discrimination on the job if you have diabetes. Your employer is not allowed to take negative employment actions against you based on your diabetes. For example, it is not allowed to fire you, fail to hire you, or not promote you due to your diabetes. Moreover, it is not allowed to discriminate against you by failing to provide health insurance it provides this to other workers because you have diabetes.

The federal law that protects you from diabetes disability discrimination is the Americans with Disabilities Act. This law only applies to those businesses with a minimum of 15 employees. However, the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law apply to companies with fewer employees, and they also have less restrictive definitions of disability.

Reasonable Accommodations for Diabetes

Employers in New York City are required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, including those who suffer from diabetes. Reasonable accommodations are alterations to some aspect of the job or work environment that would allow you to do a job for which you are qualified despite diabetes. Your employer must not retaliate against you for asking for a reasonable accommodation to do your job. Failure to provide a reasonable accommodation may constitute discrimination, except in those situations where it would present an undue hardship to provide it.

Reasonable accommodations are tailored to the disability they are meant to address. For diabetics, reasonable accommodations might include any of the following:

• More frequent breaks or shift in break schedule to check blood glucose levels or take medication,
• Private area to take insulin,
• Authorization to keep medication and food at your desk,
• Leave to recover from diabetes complications or to treat diabetes,
• Assistive devices of diabetic neuropathy or diabetic retinopathy.

Suppose you work in an open-plan office, in which workers are not allowed to keep food at their desks. If you easily suffer low blood sugar from diabetes, you could ask for an accommodation to keep a juice or fruit bar at your desk in case of emergency in spite of the general workplace policy.

Undue Hardship

Generally, courts do not consider a minor expense an “undue hardship”—rather, this term applies to accommodations that are disruptive or that fundamentally change business operations. Most of the time, providing reasonable accommodation for a worker with diabetes is not expensive. However, your employer is entitled to engage in a good-faith interactive process to figure out what type of accommodation would be appropriate given your limitations. You must cooperate to receive accommodation.

If your employer refuses a particular accommodation, you should give us a call, and you should not quit. It may be appropriate to negotiate a different accommodation with the employer. Our seasoned disability discrimination lawyers may be able to help you document this process, and file suit if you are denied a reasonable accommodation.