People with disabilities face widespread discrimination, segregation, and exclusion. But federal disability rights laws can provide protection.
Disability discrimination in the workplace
Employment discrimination is when an employer treats an application or employee less favorably due to a person’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Disability victimization is the most common type of discrimination.
What are your rights?
You have the right to work in an environment free of discrimination and cannot be denied employment, harassed, demoted, terminated, paid less, or treated less favorably because of your disability (or any other reason discussed above). You also have the right to disclose or inquire about your pay, the pay of your co-workers, and the pay of other job applicants.
Employment rights resources for persons with disabilities
- Your Employment Rights as an Individual With a Disability
- Job Applicants and the ADA
- Understanding Your Employment Rights Under the Americans with Disabilities Act: A Guide for Veterans
- Health Care Workers and the Americans with Disabilities Act
- Deafness and Hearing Impairments in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act
- Blindness and Vision Impairments in the Workplace and the ADA
- Diabetes in the Workplace and the ADA
- Epilepsy in the Workplace and the ADA
- Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in the Workplace and the ADA
- Cancer in the Workplace and the ADA
- Lone Star Legal Aid’s Crime Victim Unit can help survivors of workplace violence. If you or a loved one are a victim of workplace violence, you can apply for free legal services by calling 1-800-733-8394 or by visiting our website at lonestarlegal.org. For more resources, visit the Texas Crime Victim Legal Assistance Network.
Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy on behalf of low-income and underserved populations. Lone Star Legal Aid serves the millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines that live in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties of southwest Arkansas. Lone Star Legal Aid focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety and stability, health, and well‐being; and helping populations with special vulnerabilities, like those who have disabilities, or who are elderly, homeless, or have limited English language skills. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.lonestarlegal.org
Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
