The trial court correctly found that the district violated Gov. Code 12940(m) and (n) which require an employer to make reasonable accommodations for a disabled worker and to engage in an interactive process with the worker to reach that accommodation. Plaintiff was a probationary employee and was required to have her job performance evaluated at intervals during her first year of employment. She was given medical leave for a surgery on her hand to repair an earlier on-the-job injury but was not told that by taking the leave she would be automatically terminated because she would not be available to be evaluated at the next required interval. The failure to reveal that fact indicated bad faith in conducting the interactive process and also showed that the accommodation the district offered was illusory. The district could easily have given the plaintiff a real accommodation by extending her probationary period and evaluation dates by the amount of medical leave she took.
California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3 (Moore, J.); May 3, 2018; 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 400