09/04/2026
You have seen this play out. Your client gets a return-to-work restriction from their treating physician. The employer says there is nothing available. A few weeks later, HR terminates them for failing to return to full duty. The comp adjuster and HR never spoke to each other, and your client is caught in the middle.
Under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, that sequence of events is not a business decision. It is a failure to engage in the interactive process and failure to accommodate a disability and/or medical condition, and it is one of the most provable disability discrimination claims in employment law. The obligation to explore reasonable accommodation begins the moment the employer learns of the restriction, not after the comp case settles.
This is exactly where a well-timed referral to an employment attorney can protect everything you have built on the comp side. When both cases are handled in coordination from the start, your client's full exposure gets covered. The comp case stays intact. The civil case gets the attention it deserves. And nothing falls through the gap between two systems that should be working together.
If you are seeing this pattern in your caseload, let's connect. A quick conversation is all it takes
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This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading or responding to this content.
Joshua Cohen Slatkin, Esq. is responsible for this communication.