158 | 2023 Cal-Peculiarities ©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com testing positive for HIV,33 holding a special California driver’s license for those unable to prove lawful residence in the United States,34 victims of certain crimes taking time off from work to testify,35 and various kinds of whistleblowing or claim-filing such as – disclosing information in the reasonable belief that the information disclosed evidences a violation of law,36 – reporting safety violations,37 – claiming unpaid wages or other violations under the jurisdiction of the California Labor Commissioner,38 and – filing workers’ compensation claims or suffering workplace injuries.39 In more recent years, the Legislature established still more protected statuses: employees who are a family member of an employee who has engaged in protected activity,40 employees taking time off to care for children or other family members (expanding the types of situations in which employees may take time off work and expanding protection to employees tending to the illness of relatives),41 employee requesting an accommodation of a disability or religious belief, whether or not the request was granted,42 and individuals employed under a special license in a nonprofit sheltered workshop or rehabilitation facility.43 California’s CROWN Act—designed to Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair—protects from employment discrimination certain traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and “protective hairstyle” (e.g., braids, locks, and twists). The CROWN act protects employees against “Eurocentric norms” by addressing “workplace dress code and grooming policies that prohibit natural hair, including afros, braids, twists, and locks,” because these policies “have a disparate impact on Black individuals as these policies are more likely to deter Black applicants and burden or punish Black employees than any other group.” The CROWN act’s rationale is that “hair discrimination targeting hairstyles associated with race is racial discrimination.”44 6.3 Special Rules for Disability Discrimination 6.3.1 California’s broader definition of “disability” The California definition of disability is in some respects broader than the federal definition, even after the federal ADA Amendments Act of 2008 dramatically expanded the federal definition of disability. California authorizes many different types of health care providers to certify a disability, including as physicians, surgeons, marriage and family therapists, and acupuncturists, as well as “podiatrists, dentists, clinical psychologists, optometrists, chiropractors, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, clinical social workers, [and] physician assistants.”45
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTkwMTQ4