An injury can change your life. It can make the simplest day-to-day tasks seem challenging or impossible. It can make getting up in the morning to go to work feel agonizing. And if your work environment feels different because of your injury, you may be even less motivated to want to show up. But when you have a job to do and bills to pay, you believe you can put up with the harassment. You may think you have no choice.
In Kentucky, the law requires employers to provide their employees with reasonable accommodations after an injury. Whether you sustained your injury through a work-related accident or not, your employer cannot discriminate or retaliate against you.
It may be hard to recognize that you’re facing any consequences. Sometimes it’s not as apparent as being fired from your position. Here are some other tactics your employer may use to retaliate or discriminate against you while you’re injured:
- Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations for your injury
- Pushing a heavier workload onto you that you cannot handle, especially if you have doctor’s orders to take it slow and easy
- Giving you a low performance
- Transferring you to a position that you do not want
- Physically or verbally harassing you
Any of these reasons can be retaliatory or discriminatory actions. You should receive fair treatment in the office regardless of whether your injury is temporary or permanent.
You deserve the opportunity to recover from your injury without sacrificing your job. Your employer should not discriminate against you because of your ability or take retaliation if your injury resulted in a worker’s compensation suit.
If you find yourself struggling in the office due to injury or disability discrimination, you may want to consider talking with an attorney who has experience in such matters.
