The DDA – know your responsibilities
November 15, 2008
Yesterday’s post looked at the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and the definition of a disability. The next question is ‘what is an employer expected to do under the DDA?’
The law is there to protect disabled workers from discrimination, and this can take many forms, including harassment, victimisation, prevention of opportunities such as promotion or choosing a candidate that does not have a disability over a candidate that does, when they are equally capable but one has a disability. An employer has the duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the workplace or working practices for a disabled employee – these are adjustments that are required to prevent a disabled employee from being at a disadvantage in comparison to a non-disabled employee, due to any practices or arrangements the employer puts in place. The word ’reasonable’ is important – employers are not expected to spend huge amounts of money or change the workplace significantly if it is not feasible to do so. The ‘reasonableness’ would be related to a number of things, including cost, the disruption that would be caused by the adjustment, the size of business and the available resources to make the adjustment (which would include things like government grants etc). So, the types of adjustments or considerations employers might make include:
- Ensuring available access for workers with mobility related disabilities (e.g. access for wheelchair, mobility scooter, disabled lift)
- Flexible working hours for the disabled worker
- Allowing time off for rehabilitation, medical appointments etc
- Providing alternative written documents (e.g. with large print for visually impaired employees)
- Providing additional or alternative support and supervision
There is so much case law on the DDA, and it is a very tricky subject to deal with as employers. However there are a lot of organisations that can offer help and advice, including ACAS, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and the CIPD, and I would urge anyone with a disability related workplace query to contact one of these organisations or look on their websites.
Things to consider:Mobility scooter batteries sold separately here
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