Dundalk Disability Rights Lawyer

Disability Rights Lawyer Dundalk, MD

If you have a disability and your employer has refused to accommodate you, passed you over for a promotion, forced you out, or treated you differently because of your condition, both Maryland and federal law are on your side.

Disability discrimination in the workplace is more common than most people think. And it rarely looks like outright hostility. It looks like an accommodation request that gets ignored. A job offer that disappears after a medical exam. A termination that comes right after a return from medical leave.

Our Dundalk, MD disability rights lawyer at Eric Siegel Law represents employees facing disability discrimination, denial of reasonable accommodations, and retaliation for asserting their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Maryland law. Founding attorney Eric Siegel has more than 30 years of experience litigating civil rights and employment cases, including disability claims across federal and state courts.

Why Choose Eric Siegel Law for Disability Rights Cases in Dundalk, MD?

A Civil Rights Foundation

Disability rights cases are civil rights cases. Eric L. Siegel understands that on a level most attorneys don’t. He began his legal career at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, where he enforced federal protections for individuals whose rights were being violated. After leaving the DOJ, he opened Eric Siegel Law and has spent 30 years bringing that same enforcement mentality to his private practice.

Eric graduated from UCLA School of Law and holds a B.A. from Tufts University. He’s barred in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and New York, and admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fourth and Fifth Circuits, and multiple federal district courts. His recognitions include a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating, a Best Lawyers designation (2023), a 10.0 Avvo Rating, and a Top 100 Jury Verdicts selection in Labor & Employment by TopVerdict.com (2022).

Andrew Schroeder, Senior Counsel, brings more than 20 years of employment litigation experience focused on discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims. He earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and has represented employees before the EEOC, the Department of Labor, and the Merit Systems Protection Board. His practice covers industries where disability discrimination claims arise frequently like healthcare, government contracting, banking, and pharmaceuticals.

Our firm handles employment litigation for employees throughout Dundalk and Baltimore County.

Helping Employees Recover What They’re Owed

Eric Siegel Law has helped clients across Maryland recover millions of dollars in employment and civil rights cases. In disability discrimination matters, available damages include back pay, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages in some circumstances, and attorney’s fees. We pursue each case with the goal of making the employer fully account for its actions.

A Client’s Words

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“I had an exceptional experience working with Eric Siegel Law. Eric provides clear and thoughtful guidance in navigating the EEO process, making a complex situation much easier to understand. He is highly knowledgeable, an attentive listener, and consistently puts his client first. His professionalism and genuine care create a sense of trust and confidence, and I truly appreciated the support he offered throughout this process.” – Brian D. Alverson, Jr.

Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.

Types of Disability Rights Cases We Handle in Dundalk

Disability discrimination takes many forms, and employers are rarely transparent about it. Our disability rights attorneys in Dundalk handle a range of claims under both federal and Maryland law.

• Failure to accommodate. Your employer is required to engage in an interactive process with you to identify a reasonable accommodation for your disability. If they refused your request, ignored it, or dragged their feet until you had no choice but to leave, that failure may violate the ADA and Maryland law. We help clients who’ve been denied accommodations fight back.
• Discriminatory termination. You were fired after disclosing a disability, requesting an accommodation, or returning from medical leave. The timing alone may suggest discrimination. We investigate whether the employer’s stated reason holds up or whether the real motive was your disability.
• Hiring discrimination. An employer withdrew a job offer after a post-offer medical examination or made assumptions about your ability to do the job based on your condition rather than your qualifications. The ADA prohibits that kind of screening, and we hold employers accountable.
• Hostile work environment. Offensive comments, mocking behavior, or deliberate exclusion based on a disability can create an actionable hostile work environment. Maryland courts recognize these claims, and the conduct no longer needs to be “severe or pervasive” to be unlawful under state law.
• Retaliation. You requested an accommodation, filed a complaint with HR, or participated in an EEOC investigation and your employer punished you for it. Retaliation for asserting disability rights is independently illegal under both the ADA and Maryland’s Fair Employment Practices Act.
• Medical leave interference. Your employer denied FMLA leave, penalized you for taking it, or terminated you shortly after a return. When disability-related leave is involved, these actions can violate both the ADA and the FMLA.

Maryland and Federal Disability Discrimination Laws

Two primary statutes protect employees with disabilities in the Dundalk area.

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in all aspects of employment like hiring, firing, pay, promotions, training, and benefits. It applies to employers with 15 or more employees. The ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations unless doing so would cause undue hardship. The EEOC enforces the ADA and provides detailed guidance on what constitutes a disability, what accommodations are reasonable, and what the interactive process requires.

Maryland’s Fair Employment Practices Act (State Government Article § 20-606) mirrors and in some ways strengthens the ADA. Maryland law requires an individualized assessment by the employer of the employee’s ability to perform essential job functions, a standard that the Maryland Court of Appeals has said provides “stronger protection” than the federal interactive process requirement. Maryland also covers harassment based on disability without requiring the conduct to be “severe or pervasive,” consistent with the state’s 2022 amendments to its harassment standard.

Employees can file discrimination complaints with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights within 300 days, or with the EEOC within the same window. Filing with one agency generally preserves rights under both. A private lawsuit for discrimination can be filed in Maryland within two years of the violation, while harassment claims have a three-year deadline.

The Maryland Department of Disabilities also provides resources for individuals navigating workplace accommodations and employment issues.

Important Aspects of a Dundalk Disability Rights Case

The Interactive Process

When you request a reasonable accommodation, your employer is legally required to engage in a good-faith dialogue with you about what you need and what options are available. That’s the interactive process. Many disability cases hinge on whether the employer actually participated in that process or simply shut it down. We see employers who ignore requests, delay for weeks, demand excessive documentation, or offer alternatives that don’t actually address the employee’s limitations. When the interactive process breaks down because of the employer’s conduct, the employer, not the employee, bears responsibility. We help clients navigate accommodation requests and document every step.

Proving Disability Discrimination

Your employer will almost never say, “We fired you because of your disability.” Instead, they’ll claim performance problems, restructuring, or a policy violation. Proving discrimination means showing that the stated reason doesn’t hold up. We look at timing: were you terminated shortly after disclosing a disability or requesting an accommodation? We examine how similarly situated employees without disabilities were treated. We review whether performance complaints appeared only after your disability became known. These patterns, taken together, build a strong discrimination case.

What Qualifies as a Disability

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 broadened the definition of disability significantly. It now covers physical and mental impairments that substantially limit one or more major life activities, including working, walking, seeing, breathing, concentrating, and communicating. Conditions like diabetes, epilepsy, PTSD, cancer, depression, and chronic pain can all qualify. You don’t need to have a permanent condition. Even an impairment with a record or one your employer perceives you as having can trigger ADA protections.

Damages Available

Employees who win disability discrimination claims can recover back pay, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, and in certain cases punitive damages. Attorney’s fees and litigation costs are awarded separately. The specific recovery depends on the statute, the severity of the employer’s conduct, and the impact on the employee’s career and wellbeing.

Retaliation Is Often the Bigger Issue

In our practice, we frequently see cases where the retaliation an employee suffered after requesting an accommodation is worse than the original denial. Employers who view accommodation requests as complaints sometimes respond by marginalizing the employee, changing their schedule, issuing unwarranted write-ups, or finding a pretext to terminate them. If that happened to you, the retaliation claim may carry stronger damages than the accommodation claim alone.

Contact Eric Siegel Law

If your employer has discriminated against you because of a disability, denied your accommodation request, or retaliated against you for asserting your rights, you have legal options that can lead to real accountability and real compensation.

Eric Siegel Law serves employees throughout Dundalk, Baltimore County, and Maryland. We handle disability rights cases with the care and intensity they require.

Contact us for a confidential consultation. We will assess your situation, explain which protections apply, and give you an honest evaluation of your case.