Pregnancy and Nursing Protection
The Federal Pregnancy Disability Act also covers employees affected by pregnancy and protects them from pregnancy related discrimination including for conditions such as miscarriage, pregnancy termination, recovery from childbirth, and lactation.
The Nursing Mothers Provision mandates employers allow nursing mothers reasonable break time to express breast milk for a nursing child. They must also supply a space free from intrusion that is private and not a bathroom.
Pregnant women and women affected by pregnancy are afforded the same reasonable accommodations as employees with disabilities under the law.
Disability Discrimination & Accommodations
Disability discrimination is when an employer treats an employee covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act unfairly because of their disability.
The ADA defines a person with a disability to include someone who has a mental or physical impairment that limits a major life process such as seeing, speaking, walking, eating, breathing, hearing, learning, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, and working. Persons with a non-chronic condition such as the flu or a broken arm are not covered.
Common physical disabilities covered by California disability protections are:
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Blindness
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Deafness
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Missing appendages
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Mobility impairments
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Cerebral palsy
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Chronic or episodic conditions such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, epilepsy, seizure disorder, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and heart and circulatory disease.
Mental disabilities are also covered by the ADA and California disability protection. This can include:
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Mental illness
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Depression
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Bipolar disorder
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Schizophrenia
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Autism
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Post-traumatic stress disorder
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Obsessive compulsive disorder
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Other learning or cognitive disabilities.
In California, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities - as long as the accommodation doesn't impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment to the job function or work environment that will allow the person with the disability to perform the job function.
To qualify for protection, persons with disabilities must be able to perform the essential functions of their jobs with or without reasonable accommodation.