Probation Officers Sue Probation Department for Reassigning Their Duties against Their Will

You may have the right to file an employment discrimination claim if your employer demotes you or transfers you to different duties when you did not request this transfer.  Undesired reassignment of duties, work schedule, or work location counts as an adverse action, no matter how much your employer may try to sell the idea to you by saying that your new assignment will be easier or that you will enjoy working with your coworkers at your new work location.  Your employer might even try to convince you that this transfer of duties is a promotion; this is the dreaded “dry promotion,” where it was your employer’s unilateral decision, and you don’t get any more money.  It is even worse if the new work assignment is more physically demanding than your old one.

You may have an employment discrimination claim against your employer if you formally requested disability accommodations and you are reassigned after you made your request.  If your employer assigned you to do more physically strenuous work after you requested disability accommodations, contact a Los Angeles discrimination and harassment lawyer.

Plaintiffs With Medical Disabilities Allege That Employer Assigned Them to Tasks That Were Too Physically Strenuous for Them

In March 2024, five probation officers filed a lawsuit against the Probation Department in the California county where they worked.  All five requested accommodations for various medical disabilities, and initially, the employer provided the accommodations they requested; all of them were transferred to light duty roles, per their requests.  The trouble began when the employer assigned them to work in the county’s juvenile halls.  The official description of the job categorized it as light duty, but according to the plaintiffs, it was much more physically challenging than their usual roles.  The employer told the plaintiffs that, if they did not work in the juvenile halls on the days they were assigned, they would be sent home without pay.  It explained its actions by saying that the juvenile halls were severely understaffed.

This is not the only pending litigation regarding employers in California’s correctional sector failing to make health-related accommodations for employees.  More than 300 women currently or formerly employed by the California Department of Corrections have sued their employer, alleging that the employer did not make pregnancy-related accommodations when the plaintiffs needed them.  One plaintiff received a $2 million settlement for her pregnancy discrimination case; the employer refused the plaintiff’s request for a reassignment to a role with limited standing and walking, and as a result, she fell during her shift and suffered a miscarriage.  Legal protections against pregnancy discrimination apply regardless of whether your employer’s failure to make the accommodations causes pregnancy complications.

Speak With a Los Angeles Employment Discrimination Lawyer

A Los Angeles employment discrimination and retaliation lawyer can help you if your health got worse because your employer failed to make the accommodations your doctor recommended.  Contact Litigation, P.C. in Redondo Beach, California to discuss your situation or call (424)284-2401.

Source:

2urbangirls.com/2024/03/5-probation-officers-file-discrimination-lawsuit-against-l-a-county-probation-department/