Costco Disability Discrimination Case: What It Teaches About Reasonable Accommodations

In California, employees have legal protections when they get hurt on the job and can’t return to work right away. Sometimes, even with those protections in place, things don’t go the way workers hope. A recent case involving Costco highlights what workers should know about requesting reasonable accommodations after an injury affects their ability to do their job.

The worker in this case had been employed at Costco for over a decade when she fell from a ladder while stocking items at a Redwood City warehouse. A shoulder injury limited how much she could lift or carry. For a while, Costco reassigned her to sections that involved handling small items, which seemed like a good-faith effort to keep her employed during her recovery.

Eventually, her doctors determined that her condition had plateaued. She could no longer return to work as a stocker as she wasn’t going to regain the ability to lift, push or pull more than 10 pounds. At that point, she sat down with management to discuss accommodations. However, nothing seemed to line up with the essential requirements of the positions Costco had available. A few months later, the company ended her employment.

She sued for wrongful termination and disability discrimination under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. The court ultimately dismissed the lawsuit and sided with Costco, ruling that the employer had met its legal obligation to engage in a good-faith interactive process to try to accommodate her condition. The company also tried to find available roles that would work with her medical limitations.

The court’s decision came down to one key issue. Employers are not required to change the core responsibilities of a job or create new positions just to keep someone employed. That part can be tough to hear, especially for workers who have given years of dedication to a company.

Under FEHA, the law focuses on whether the employer made a good-faith effort to accommodate the worker’s medical limitations or disability. That includes discussing options, reviewing medical documentation, and exploring whether any open positions might work. In this case, the court found that Costco had done that.

The plaintiff had offered to do cleaning or other work if Costco modified the position by removing a few essential functions. However, it is worth noting that FEHA does not require companies to create light-duty roles or strip a job of its essential functions. For example, if a warehouse position involves lifting, pulling, or pushing heavy objects as core parts of the job, and the worker can no longer do those tasks, the company isn’t obligated to redesign the job entirely. The law asks for flexibility and fairness, but it stops short of demanding that employers go beyond what is practical or reasonable, such as excessive costs to the business.

This case underscores something workers often may not realize. Reasonable accommodation doesn’t mean guaranteed job retention. This means that employers have to try to find a way forward. Sometimes that leads to a creative solution. Other times, there just isn’t a solution that matches what the worker is physically able to do.

Still, the interactive process itself matters. Employers must make a real effort to explore options rather than just assuming that nothing will work. They need to look at job openings, talk to the employee and be transparent. On the flip side, workers should stay involved in the process, share their medical updates and suggest realistic accommodations.

If you are recovering from a workplace injury or have a disability and are unsure what your employer is supposed to do, you’re not alone. California law gives you the right to request accommodations and expects your employer to respond fairly in discussing possibilities.

If your employer isn’t willing to communicate with you, or if you were fired after requesting accommodations, it might be time to get legal advice. The San Francisco employment lawyers at McCormack Law Firm help workers understand their rights. We handle cases involving wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and other workplace issues. Contact us today for a free initial consultation to learn more.