On July 16, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 987 providing another shift in favor of employees with retaliation claims.
This new law makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person who requests an accommodation based on religion or disability.
AB 987 amends the Fair Employment Housing Act (FEHA) under the religious and disability protections to clarify that an employer is prohibited from retaliating or discriminating against an employee for requesting a reasonable accommodation, regardless of whether the accommodation is actually granted.
While many employers already considered such activity protected, it is now officially a legally protected activity within the meaning of FEHA.
This amendment is largely in response to the California Court of Appeals decision in Rope v. Auto-Clor System of Washington, Inc., (2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 635, which found that requests for reasonable accommodation, even repeated requests, did not equal protected activity.
AB 987 was sponsored by the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA), who argued the bill will clarify that an employee cannot be retaliated against for requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability or a religious need.
Do your employees (managers, supervisors, human resources) know how to handle a request for religious or disability accommodation? In light of AB 987 and the heightened sensitivity to retaliation claims, handling these requests correctly has never been more important.
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