Employers Required to Accommodate Employees Associated With Disabled Persons

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) has long required employers to reasonably accommodate employees with disabilities. Now it also requires employers to accommodate employees who are associated with a disabled person.

On April 4, 2016, the California Court of Appeal, in Luis Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, the Court determined that because FEHA requires employers to reasonably accommodate the “disabled,” and the “disabled” includes those associated with the disabled, FEHA requires employers to reasonably accommodate those associated with the disabled.

In this case, an employee had requested time away from work to care for his son. Although the employee did not have a disability under California law, his son did. California employees can be associated with a disability of a spouse, child or parent.

For more information on this topic or any employment question, please contact Christopher Taylor of Taylor Labor Law, P.C. at (626) 219-6008 or chris@taylorlaborlaw.com. You may also wish to visit www.taylorlaborlaw.com.