Mesothelioma and Your Job: ADA Rights, FMLA and Workplace Accommodations

Can You Keep Working After a Mesothelioma Diagnosis?

Many people can keep working for a while after a mesothelioma diagnosis. Your ability to work depends on the stage of your disease, your treatment plan, the physical demands of your job and your financial situation.

Federal Laws That Protect You

• ADA: Requires your employer to provide reasonable accommodations and prohibits disability discrimination
• FMLA: Provides up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave per year
• Social Security disability: Provides income if you can no longer work

Federal law doesn’t require you to tell your employer about your diagnosis. However, disclosing it is often what triggers your right to Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations and Family and Medical Leave Act leave protections.

Each of these laws works differently. Knowing how they overlap gives you the strongest foundation for protecting your job, income and health insurance.

Factors To Weigh Before Returning To Work

Deciding whether to return to work after a mesothelioma diagnosis comes down to factors like your job demands, treatment schedule and workplace flexibility. Looking at the full picture can help you make the best decision for your situation.

Key Factors To Consider Before Returning To Work

• Benefits: Keeping employer health insurance is often critical during treatment
• Job demands: Heavy lifting, long hours or exposure to lung irritants can worsen symptoms
• Travel and commute: Fatigue and shortness of breath often worsen during treatment
• Treatment schedule: Surgery recovery, chemotherapy infusions and radiation appointments take time
• Workplace flexibility: What accommodations is your employer willing to make

Meirowitz & Wasserberg helps you make decisions based on your full financial situation, including evaluating settlements, trust fund recoveries and Social Security benefits. This way, you don’t have to choose between paying bills and protecting your health.

The ADA: Your Right To Reasonable Workplace Accommodations

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recognizes cancer, including mesothelioma, as a disability under the ADA. The 2008 ADA Amendments Act widened the definition of “disability” to include conditions that affect major life activities, like normal cell growth, immune system function and respiratory function. Mesothelioma directly impacts all of these.

The ADA applies to private employers with 15 or more employees. It also applies to state and local governments. Smaller employers may still fall under state disability laws. You qualify for ADA protection if you can perform the essential functions of your job with or without a reasonable accommodation.

What Are Reasonable Accommodations?

Reasonable accommodations are modifications to a job or work environment that enable a qualified person with a disability to successfully complete the job. They aren’t one-size-fits-all.

Common Mesothelioma Accommodations

• Ergonomic adjustments like different seating, voice-to-text software or reduced lifting requirements
• Modified work schedules with later start times to accommodate fatigue or medication
• Permission to use accumulated leave intermittently
• Private space for rest breaks during long days
• Reassignment to a less physically demanding position when available
• Telework or remote work, where the job allows
• Time off for medical appointments, infusions or imaging

The ADA describes reasonable accommodations as an “interactive process.” Employees request an accommodation in writing, the employer responds and both sides discuss what’s doable.

Employers must engage in good faith and can’t refuse requests without reason. They aren’t required to provide accommodations that create an “undue hardship” or that remove the essential functions of a job.

If your employer refuses or stalls, you can file an EEOC charge within 180 days of the discriminatory act or within 300 days in states with their own anti-discrimination agency. Consult an employment attorney and document everything in writing.

The FMLA: Job-Protected Leave for Mesothelioma Treatment

The FMLA gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave each year for a serious health condition. Mesothelioma qualifies, and the law covers both the patient and qualifying family members who provide care.

FMLA Eligibility Requirements

• You work for an employer with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius
• You work in the United States
• You’ve worked at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months
• You’ve worked for that employer for at least 12 months

FMLA protects your job and your health insurance. When you return to work, your employer must reinstate you to the same position or an equivalent one with equal pay, benefits and seniority. Your employer must also continue your group health insurance during leave on the same terms as if you were still working. You can use FMLA for mesothelioma all at once, intermittent with single days or partial days or with a reduced schedule for fewer hours or days while undergoing active treatment.

A spouse, child of any age or parent of a patient with mesothelioma can also take FMLA leave to provide care. The caregiver must meet the same eligibility requirements as any other FMLA leave-taker. Your employer can require a medical certification from your treating physician confirming your serious health condition and its expected duration. You can recertify every 30 days for intermittent leave.

When FMLA’s 12 weeks run out, the ADA can fill the gap. Additional unpaid leave can be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, depending on your circumstances. This overlap is critical, and many people overlook it.

Telling Your Employer About a Mesothelioma Diagnosis

You are not legally required to tell your employer about your diagnosis. However, you usually have to share enough information to trigger ADA accommodations or FMLA leave protections. Without disclosure, your employer has no legal obligation to accommodate you or hold your job.

Many people delay disclosure for privacy reasons or fear of discrimination. But the sooner you document the conversation, the stronger your legal footing if something goes wrong.

What To Document Before Disclosing

• Copies of any accommodation or FMLA paperwork submitted
• Dates and times of any meeting where you tell HR or your supervisor
• Names of everyone present
• What you said and what was said in response
• Written follow-up (request confirmation in email after any verbal conversation)

You can disclose to HR instead of your direct supervisor to maintain confidentiality. It’s not mandatory to share your full medical picture. You only need to share enough to support the accommodation or leave request you’re making. Federal law requires employers to keep medical information in a separate file from regular personnel records.

You never have to tell co-workers about your diagnosis. Your employer can’t disclose it without your permission. If you’re unsure how much to share, our attorneys can help you decide before you have that conversation.

Protection From Discrimination and Wrongful Termination

Federal law prohibits employers from firing, demoting, cutting hours, refusing to promote or otherwise punishing an employee because of a mesothelioma diagnosis, request for accommodations or FMLA leave. Retaliation is itself illegal, even if the discrimination claim doesn’t hold up in court.

Common forms of workplace retaliation include denial of FMLA, job demotion, pressure to resign, emphasis of sudden “performance issues”, or termination. If you think your employer has retaliated against you, it’s important to act quickly. The steps you take in the days and weeks after a retaliatory act can make or break a claim.

Steps To Take If You Suspect Retaliation

• Contact an employment attorney or mesothelioma firm immediately
• Don’t sign a severance, separation or arbitration agreement without legal review
• Immediately write down what happened, when and who was involved
• Request a copy of your personnel file in writing
• Save copies of emails, performance reviews and any documents that show your performance before and after disclosure

You typically must file an EEOC charge within 180 days of the discriminatory act or within 300 days in states with their own anti-discrimination agency.

Meirowitz & Wasserberg works with employment counsel when a mesothelioma client’s case includes a workplace dispute. Coordinating your mesothelioma claim and any employment claim from day one keeps strategies aligned and protects every dollar of compensation you’re entitled to.

Income and Benefits When You Can’t Keep Working

Many people diagnosed with mesothelioma reach a point where they can’t keep working full time. Federal and private income-replacement programs exist to help bridge the gap. Knowing what’s available and how these programs interact with each other can help protect your income.

These programs don’t all work independently. Some offset others, so coordinating them correctly can make a significant difference.

Income Sources for Mesothelioma Patients

• Asbestos trust funds: When the company responsible for your exposure has filed for bankruptcy, a trust fund claim may provide compensation separate from a lawsuit.
• Private long-term disability insurance: If you have a policy through your employer or purchased individually, review the policy’s definition of “disabled” and its elimination period.
• Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): Mesothelioma is on the Social Security Administration’s Compassionate Allowance List, which fast-tracks medical review and can lead to a disability determination in weeks instead of months.
• State short-term disability: California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island offer state-funded short-term disability programs.
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI): This is a needs-based program for people with limited income and assets. Some people diagnosed with mesothelioma qualify for both SSDI and SSI.
• Veterans benefits: If your asbestos exposure happened during military service, you may qualify for VA disability compensation and pension benefits.
• Workers’ compensation: When asbestos exposure happened on the job, workers’ compensation may pay medical and lost-wage benefits. However, this varies significantly by state.

SSDI, workers’ compensation, lawsuit settlements and asbestos trust fund recoveries can overlap. Some benefits offset others, and some don’t. Our attorneys structure mesothelioma claims to help you get the most compensation possible.

When FMLA or employment ends, COBRA lets you continue group coverage for up to 18 months. Sometimes, this extends to 29 months for people with a disability determination. Medicare eligibility starts 24 months after SSDI begins. The Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicaid are also options to explore.

How Meirowitz & Wasserberg Protects Your Workplace Rights

A mesothelioma diagnosis raises complex legal questions that Meirowitz & Wasserberg handles for you. Workplace accommodations, FMLA leave, disability benefits, an asbestos lawsuit, trust fund claims, a possible workers’ comp filing and a possible VA claim can all be options to pursue.

Coordinating everything ensures you recover the funds you deserve. This coordination is what sets Meirowitz & Wasserberg apart.

How Our Firm Helps

• Connecting you with employment counsel: When a workplace dispute involves denied accommodations, retaliation, wrongful termination or a forced severance, we work with employment lawyers to keep your mesothelioma claim and any employment claim aligned.
• Coordinating the full compensation picture: A mesothelioma lawsuit recovery and asbestos trust fund payouts can interact with SSDI, workers’ compensation and private disability insurance. Our attorneys structure claims so benefits don’t offset each other unnecessarily.
• Documenting your case: Our team has reconstructed exposure histories for thousands of clients. That same investigative approach helps document workplace events that matter for an ADA or retaliation claim.
• Filing claims in parallel: Trust fund claims, lawsuits, VA claims and Social Security applications don’t have to be completed one at a time. Filing in parallel protects statutes of limitations and gets cash to your household faster.
• Working on contingency: We charge no upfront cost. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your mesothelioma claim.

If you’re unsure how your workplace situation interacts with your mesothelioma claim, contact us for a free case review. We are available 24/7, and there is no pressure and no obligation.

Frequently Asked Questions

About The Author

Daniel Wasserberg

Founding Partner

Daniel Wasserberg, a founding partner of Meirowitz & Wasserberg, is a Best Lawyers-recognized and Super Lawyers-rated mesothelioma attorney with over 20 years of experience. Named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer and Top 10 Asbestos-Mesothelioma Lawyer, he leads the firm's national asbestos practice.