One thing a person may have major concerns about after suffering a serious injury or developing a severe medical condition is their ability to earn an income.
There are many things that can get in the way of a disabled individual having employment. Sadly, such roadblocks sometimes are generated by wrongful conduct by employers driven by outdated and inaccurate perceptions.
Disability discrimination by employers can take many forms, including discriminatory hiring practices, discriminatory firings and the allowing of a hostile work environment to exist for disabled employees. Disability discrimination in the workplace is illegal here in the United States. Unfortunately, this has not completely put a stop to such wrongful conduct.
Recently, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released some statistics regarding how many complaints of workplace disability discrimination it received in the 2013 fiscal year. The good news is that the number of complaints was down from the previous fiscal year. This is the first year-to-year decrease in such claims the U.S. has experienced in several years.
The bad news is that the number of complaints was still very high. According to the EEOC, 25,957 workplace disability discrimination complaints were filed with it in fiscal year 2013. Thus, it appears that workplace disability discrimination is still far too common. One hopes that efforts will continue to be taken to stamp out this insidious form of discrimination.
Now, not all roadblocks a disabled individual can face when it comes to getting gainful employment come from wrongful conduct. Sometimes, the nature of a person’s disability restricts their ability to work. Individuals who this is the case for may be able to seek monetary relief to help them cover their everyday expenses. One program aimed at providing such relief is the Social Security Disability program. Disabled individuals can receive benefits under the program, provided they meet the qualification requirements.
Source: Disability Scoop, “Workplace Disability Discrimination Claims See Decline,” Michelle Diament, Feb. 11, 2014