Employees Disability - When A Little Knowledge Can Be Very Dangerous

24/04/099

By Karl Nicholas

In Eastern & Coastal PCT (ECP) v Grey a tribunal's finding that an employer was exempt from the duty to make reasonable adjustments in respect of a dyslexic job applicant was overturned by the EAT. In a salutary warning to all employer's it has made it clear that employers should make further inquiries to an employee's "hidden" disability when they have been informed that the employee in question is suffering from a potential "impairment and cannot rely upon the ignorance is bliss adage.

As most employers are aware by now, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA 1995), they...

...are under a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent a provision, criterion or practice or any physical feature of premises occupied by them from putting disabled staff and job applicants at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people, this is set out at section 4A(1) of the DDA 1995 Disability Discrimination Act 1995. However, an employer will be exempt from this duty if, in accordance with section 4A(3)(b) of the Act, he can show that he did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, that the person in question has a disability and that he or she is likely to be placed at a substantial disadvantage.

The central issue for the EAT to decide was whether an employer was exempted from making adjustments for a disabled job applicant which it should have otherwise made during an interview process.

Ms G was suffered from dyslexia. She applied for a job with ECP. On THE Application form she clearly set out she suffered from a 'learning difficulty/disability', and also applied for a guaranteed interview under the 'Positive about Disability' scheme. However, she also indicated that she did not feel that she required any... continued on page two >

 

 

Advertisement

Advertisement