Most people asking about this are asking two questions at once: can they make me say what's wrong with me, and can they fire me for asking. In California the answers are no and no, and both are written down.

The threshold is lower here than under federal law

California's Fair Employment and Housing Act covers a mental or psychological disorder or condition "that limits a major life activity" — and the Legislature said in the code itself why that word matters: state law requires "a 'limitation' upon a major life activity, but do[es] not require, as does the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, a 'substantial limitation.' This distinction is intended to result in broader coverage under the law of this state."¹ A condition limits a major life activity "if it makes the achievement of the major life activity difficult," major life activities "shall be broadly construed" and include working, and the analysis ignores medication and other mitigating measures.¹ Clinical depression and bipolar disorder are named in the statute as covered conditions.²

And the employer can be small. FEHA applies to any person "regularly employing five or more persons."³ For harassment claims the threshold drops to one.³

Two separate duties — and the second one is where cases are won

It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer "to fail to make reasonable accommodation for the known physical or mental disability of an applicant or employee."⁴ It is a separate unlawful practice "to fail to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process with the employee… to determine effective reasonable accommodations."⁵ An employer can lose on the second even where the first is arguable.

The regulation calls the duty affirmative, and says the employer must start the process not only when you ask, but when it "otherwise becomes aware of the need for an accommodation through a third party or by observation," or when you have exhausted leave and your provider says more accommodation is needed.⁶ Both sides "shall exchange essential information… without delay or obstruction of the process."⁷

What you can actually ask for

The regulation's list is longer than the statute's and is the better one to quote in an email: job restructuring including reallocating non-essential functions, a part-time or modified schedule, changing when or how an essential function is performed, modifying an employer policy, modifying supervisory methods (for example, dividing complex tasks into smaller parts), additional training, permitting an employee to work from home, paid or unpaid leave for treatment and recovery, and reassignment to a vacant position.⁸

Leave is an accommodation. Holding a job open, or extending leave beyond what a leave law gives you, "may be a reasonable accommodation provided that the leave is likely to be effective in allowing the employee to return to work at the end of the leave" and does not create undue hardship.⁹ Two important halves of the same rule: an employer "may not require that the employee take a leave of absence" where you could work with a different accommodation, and an employer "is not required to provide an indefinite leave."⁹ Time off for follow-up appointments counts too.¹⁰

"Come back when you're 100%" is not lawful as a blanket policy. The employer "shall assess individually an employee's ability to perform the essential functions… In the absence of an individualized assessment, an employer… shall not impose a '100 percent healed' or 'fully healed' policy before the employee can return to work."¹¹ Note the conditional: the bar is on the blanket policy, not on any inquiry at all.

Three more rules worth knowing: the employer must consider your preference "but has the right to select and implement an accommodation that is effective";¹² it cannot force an accommodation on you or retaliate for refusing one;¹² and if reassignment is on the table, you get preferential consideration for a vacant position over other applicants and employees.¹³

The diagnosis question, answered exactly

Generally an employer may not make a medical or psychological inquiry, or ask "whether an employee has a mental disability… or… the nature or severity of a physical disability, mental disability, or medical condition" — unless it can show the inquiry is "job related and consistent with business necessity."¹⁴

When you request an accommodation and the need is not obvious, the employer may require reasonable medical documentation. Here is what that means, in the regulation's own words: it "confirms the existence of the disability and the need for reasonable accommodation," may include "a description of physical or mental limitations that affect a major life activity that must be met to accommodate the employee," and — **"Disclosure of the nature of the disability is not required."**¹⁵ Once it has that documentation, the employer "shall not ask the applicant or employee about the underlying medical cause of the disability."¹⁶

What the note may contain is specified: the provider's name and credentials, that you have a condition that limits a major life activity, and why you need an accommodation. The employer "shall not ask for unrelated documentation, including in most circumstances… complete medical records."¹⁷ If it thinks the documentation is insufficient it must say why and let you supplement before demanding an examination of its own — and any such examination must be limited to the functional limitations, paid for by the employer, with time off allowed.¹⁸

One provision written for exactly this context: "An employee's mental or physical inability to engage in the interactive process shall not constitute a breach in either the employee's or the employer's obligation."¹⁹

Who is allowed to see it

Medical information obtained in this process "shall be maintained on separate forms, and in medical files separate from the employee's personnel file, and shall be kept confidential" — with three narrow exceptions: supervisors may be told of work restrictions and necessary accommodations, first aid and safety personnel may be told where emergency treatment might be needed, and government investigators may be given relevant information on request.²⁰ Separately, California's medical-confidentiality law requires employers to establish procedures protecting the information, bars use or disclosure without a signed authorisation except in four listed situations, and prohibits discriminating against an employee who refuses to sign one.²¹ An authorisation is only valid if it is in 14-point type or handwritten, is separate from other text, states what may be disclosed and to whom, and expires within a year unless you ask for longer.²²

Accommodation is not the same as leave — and you can use both

The California Family Rights Act is a different statute: 12 workweeks in a 12-month period, for employers with five or more employees, for an employee with more than 12 months of service and at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months.²³ It is unpaid as a matter of that law²³ — the wage replacement comes from state disability insurance, which is a separate system. The leave-and-pay guide →

Accommodation has none of those service thresholds. Someone in their third week of a job can request one.

Retaliation, and the clocks

Requesting an accommodation is itself protected: it is an unlawful practice to "retaliate or otherwise discriminate against a person for requesting accommodation under this subdivision, regardless of whether the request was granted."²⁴ That is on top of the general retaliation provision covering people who oppose unlawful practices or file complaints.²⁵

Three years to file with the Civil Rights Department, measured from the date the unlawful practice occurred, with filing dated to your intake form.²⁶ In employment cases you must obtain a right-to-sue notice before suing, and then you have one year from the date of that notice.²⁷ New since 1 January 2026 and absent from most guidance: the time to file a civil action is tolled while your department complaint is pending, and that tolling applies retroactively — though it does not revive claims that already lapsed.²⁸

Do this: put the request in writing, in ordinary words — "I have a medical condition that is affecting my ability to [concentrate / attend early meetings / work in an open room], and I'm requesting an accommodation" — and name what would help. Ask your therapist or doctor for a note that describes functional limitations and what you need, and nothing else; that is exactly what the regulation asks for. Keep the thread. If the employer goes quiet, write again referring to "the interactive process required by Government Code section 12940(n)" — that sentence changes how the email is read.

Sources

  1. Government Code §12926(j)(1) and (j)(1)(A)–(C) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov; Government Code §12926.1(c) for the quoted legislative statement on "limitation" versus "substantial limitation" and on mitigating measures — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  2. Government Code §12926.1(c), naming "clinical depression, bipolar disorder" among chronic or episodic conditions covered.
  3. Government Code §12926(d); Government Code §12940(j)(4)(A) for the one-employee threshold applicable to harassment claims only.
  4. Government Code §12940(m)(1).
  5. Government Code §12940(n) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  6. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11068(a) (the affirmative duty) and §11069(b) (when the process must be initiated).
  7. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11069(a).
  8. Government Code §12926(p) and 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11065(p)(2)(E)–(O).
  9. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11068(c).
  10. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11068(g).
  11. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11068(i). Federal guidance is to the same effect and adds that an employer with a maximum-leave policy may still have to grant leave beyond it as an accommodation absent undue hardship: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, "Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act," 9 May 2016 — eeoc.gov. We could not find a California provision expressly addressing maximum-leave caps.
  12. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11068(e) and (f).
  13. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11068(d)(5); §11068(d)(4) confirms an employer need not create a new position.
  14. Government Code §12940(f)(1)–(2).
  15. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11069(d)(1).
  16. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11069(c)(3).
  17. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11069(d)(5)(A)–(B).
  18. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11069(d)(5)(C), (d)(7) and (d)(8).
  19. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11069(d)(3).
  20. 2 Cal. Code Regs. §11069(g).
  21. Civil Code §56.20(a)–(c) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  22. Civil Code §56.21 — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  23. Government Code §12945.2(a), (b)(4) and (c) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. The 50-employee and 75-mile thresholds were repealed by SB 1383 (Stats. 2020, Ch. 86), operative 1 January 2021.
  24. Government Code §12940(m)(2), added by AB 987 (Stats. 2015, Ch. 122), effective 1 January 2016.
  25. Government Code §12940(h).
  26. Government Code §12960(e)(5) and (b) — three years "from the date upon which the unlawful practice or refusal to cooperate occurred," with filing dated to the intake form. The three-year period comes from AB 9 (Stats. 2019, Ch. 709), effective 1 January 2020, which "shall not be interpreted to revive lapsed claims." Note the Civil Rights Department describes it in its own materials as three years from when you were last harmed; the statutory phrasing is the one quoted here.
  27. Government Code §12965(c)(1)(A) and (c)(1)(D) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  28. Government Code §12960(f)(1)–(3), added by SB 477 (Stats. 2025, Ch. 321), effective 1 January 2026.

Every provision above was read on the official statutory or regulatory text on 17 August 2026. This page describes the law; it is not legal advice, and an employment lawyer will see facts in your situation that a website cannot.

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