More than 50 years after the Equal Pay Act of 1963 required equal pay for equal work, a wage gap persists between similarly situated men and women in the workforce.

Employers often rely on medical information and disability determinations made in workers' compensation matters to decide whether to return employees back to work, even though such determinations are made without regard to disability discrimination laws. However, it is now clear that employers do so at their own peril. In Cuiellette v. City of Los Angeles, the Second Appellate District Court affirmed a $1,571,500 judgment for disability discrimination and failure to accommodate disability in favor of the employee. In affirming the judgment, the court determined that the proper inquiry is whether an employee's medical restrictions prevented the individual from performing the functions of the position held or the desired position to be held.