What Is Medical Discrimination?
It is against medical discrimination laws for any employer to discriminate against someone due to the existence of a medical condition. Both state law and federal law prohibit discrimination because of a disability or medical condition. This prohibition extends not just to workplace medical discrimination but to harassment as well. Understanding exceptions to medical discrimination and examples of medical discrimination can help you determine whether you need to take legal action.
Definition of Workplace Medical Discrimination
Employers with disabilities are protected from disability discrimination by law, meaning prospective employees cannot be discriminated against because of that medical condition.
If you have a medical condition, you must disclose it to your employer in a medical records release form. The employer is required to provide you with reasonable accommodations so that you are still able to perform your duties. Reasonable accommodations can include:
Providing interpreters
Modifying workplace equipment
Changing company tests or training material
Restructuring your work schedule so that it is modified or part-time
Medical conditions are typically defined as any health impairment or record of health impairments, such as:
- Physical disabilities;
- Mental disabilities, such as clinical depression and schizophrenia;
- Chronic diseases;
- HIV or AIDS;
- Genetic characteristics;
- Cancer.
Exceptions to Medical Discrimination
There are some exceptions to medical condition discrimination. If job assignments require essential functions and disability interferes with those functions or would provide significant difficulty, that is not discrimination. For example, if someone suffers from narcolepsy, a trucking company can choose not to hire them because their narcolepsy would likely interfere with the primary duties of the job.
If an employee suffers from a medical condition or is at risk of termination due to health reasons, the company must provide reasonable accommodations as long as the accommodation doesn’t create an undue hardship for the employer. Legally speaking, an undue hardship in the workplace is considered any situation that is significantly difficult for the employee.
Examples of Medical Discrimination
Medical discrimination at work can take place because of religion, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, race, or medical conditions. In some instances, harassment or discrimination might fall under employment law when it takes place in the workplace, but in other cases, it can be so severe that it violates an individual’s civil rights. Medical discrimination examples can take place during recruitment, at a job interview, or even in the workplace. Some cases include discriminatory insurance practices where the employer withholds an employee’s benefits or provides unfair benefit packages to those with medical conditions.
Typical medical discrimination examples include:
Wrongful termination where an employer fires or demotes an employee based on their medical condition
Employment discrimination where an employer refuses to hire somebody because they have a particular medical condition
Providing someone with different compensation or creating different privileges for those who don’t have a medical condition
Refusing to select an applicant to participate in training programs because of their disability
Employers are not allowed to employee termination due to health reasons in any area of the job, and this includes the hiring process. This means an employer cannot engage in any of the following health discrimination examples:
- Refuse to hire someone because that person has a medical condition or because the employer thinks they have one;
- Harass an employee in the workplace;
- Reduce an employee’s compensation;
- Refuse to give a reasonable accommodation;
- Force an employee to quit;
- Deny an employee benefits;
- Deny an employee any workplace promotions;
- Deny an employee’s reinstatement;
- Demote an employee.
Medical Discrimination in the Workplace
If an employer thinks an employee has a medical condition, but they don’t have any proof, they still cannot ask for their medical records or start terminating employee with medical condition.
Unless the job you are applying to requires that all employees or prospective employees take a medical exam, your employer or potential employer cannot ask you to take one. Otherwise, it will be considered one of the health discrimination examples.
However, there are job-related medical exams, such as for those entering the police force or those who wish to become a trucker. However, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, they cannot ask you to complete a medical exam until after they have made you a job offer.
Similarly, employers cannot ask you about your health status. However, there may be specific tasks related to your job for which a potential employer must make sure you are qualified. They can ask you if you are physically or mentally able to handle specific tasks such as, “Can you lift 50-lb bags of gravel regularly every day?”
If employers believe that you would be unable to safely or successfully do the job at hand because of a medical condition OR they need documentation in order to provide you with a reasonable accommodation, they can ask you more specific medical questions or require a medical exam before they provide you with a job offer.
How to Build a Medical Discrimination Case
If you feel medical discrimination in the workplace, you might be able to pursue a medical discrimination case with the help of an attorney.
Because there are so many exceptions to these rules, you must build a compelling case by taking the following steps:
Keep exact examples of medical discrimination which may take place on more than one occasion. This includes the names of those who have discriminated against you, phone numbers, witnesses, and records associated with that discrimination. For example, any HR records, if applicable.
File a formal complaint with your company. Even if you were discriminated against during the recruitment or interview process, you can still submit a formal complaint with the company. A formal complaint provides an official account of the discrimination that transpired and what happened after the fact to rectify the situation, if anything. Should you decide to pursue a medical discrimination case, having official records of each event can help you and your attorney build a more substantial case.
Reach out to qualified medical discrimination lawyers. A medical discrimination attorney will know how to prepare for such a case and what additional documentation you might want to gather, and they can tell you what to expect next.
Medical Discrimination Laws
There are many laws that prevent discrimination, even medical discrimination. The four most important include the following:
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): This law prohibits “discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, State and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications. It also applies to the United States Congress.”
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: This law states that it is against the law to discrimination in any aspect of employment (such as hiring/firing, recruitment, fringe benefits, etc.), and any type of harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, and/or disability.
- Family and Medical Leave Act: This law relates to unpaid, job-protected leave for specific family and medical reasons and provides all employees with leave (with the continuation of health insurance coverage) for situations such as taking care of a spouse, caring for a child, or helping a parent with a serious health condition. Employees who need leave for their medical condition must be allowed that leave as well.
- The Rehabilitation Act of 1973: This Act “prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs conducted by federal agencies, in programs receiving federal financial assistance, in federal employment and in the employment practices of federal contractors.”
Conclusion
If you believe that you have been discriminated against in the workplace because of a medical condition, you should consider reaching out to an attorney. Again, there are many instances where exceptions might arise or where perceived discrimination is actually an employer’s attempt to ensure that you are physically able to complete the tasks associated with the job. For this reason, it is best to understand examples of medical discrimination and exemptions in the workplace, and an experienced attorney can assist with this.
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