Protection for Workers With Addiction and in Rehabilitation Programs
Alcohol and drug addiction is a fact of life for many people, and it can ruin not just employment, but people’s lives. If you’re seeking rehabilitation or recovery from addiction, you’re on the right path to getting yourself the help you need. Could rehabilitation and recovery end up costing you your job?
Addiction is Protected
The good news is that addiction is considered a disability, recognized by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and thus, your employer cannot discriminate against you for seeking rehabilitation or addiction recovery programs.
The ADA requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. And since addiction is a disability, one such accommodation is allowing employees not only freedom from discrimination, but also, the freedom to get to and obtain the recovery and rehabilitation that they need.
California’s Medical Leave
California has its own law, separate from the federal ADA, that requires employers who employ more than 25 people, to allow time for employees to get treatment and addiction recovery programs.
The law doesn’t exactly say what kind of accommodations are needed. But things like adjustments in schedules, allowing workers to use their time off to go for treatment, or alteration of work schedules, are all things that would be a reasonable accommodation for employees seeking recovery.
Employees are also allowed up to 12 weeks of leave from work, to seek in-patient addiction treatment, if necessary. While these 12 weeks do not have to be paid by the employer, the employee cannot lose his or her job for taking this leave. If you do have sick time which pays you for all or part of that time, by law, you must be allowed to use that time and get paid for it, while you are in a recovery program.
Discrimination at Work
Many employers will allow time off or accommodations for employees to seek addiction recovery–but then, on the employees’ return or recovery, the employer will demote them, or punish them, or take some other adverse action. Employers will often hide under the guise that the employee, having been addicted, is not “trustworthy or reliable.”
This is not allowed, and constitutes not only discrimination violating the ADA, but also illegal retaliation against the employee for seeking legally required treatment.
You Must Seek Treatment on Your Own
The law does not require employers to offer rehab, or provide rehabilitation services to employees. And while an employer cannot punish you just for having an addiction, an employer can fire you for not doing your job because you’re intoxicated or on drugs on the job.
Employers also do not have to offer or suggest treatment, before punishing you if you are in fact not doing your job because of addiction.
Are you being discriminated against or harassed at work because of addiction or being in rehab or recovery? Contact the California employment and discrimination law attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today.
