Disability - Employee's Condition Changed and now Unable to Complete Part of Role - General - Diversity and inclusion

4 Disability - Employee's Condition Changed and now Unable to Complete Part of Role

30 Jun, 2023 09:47

Hi.

Looking for some advice on this situation.

Employee who is the Head of Training is disabled. Employer did not ask at any stage if the employee was disabled and there was no formal disclosure by employee, but their physical disability was visible from interview stage. Employee has also openly discussed their disability, including symptoms that were not visible at interview, and how it affects them with colleagues and line manager. There have been no performance issues and employee has completed all tasks required.

Employee's condition has deteriorated and they are struggling with pain. Speaking is a trigger for one part of their pain. Their job should involve delivering training, but this is causing the employee to have more pain and fatigue. The ideal for the employee would be to not deliver training and focus on other aspects of the role, but it's a small company and we don't have another trainer.

What would be considered reasonable adjustments in this scenario? If the employee delivers the training and this causes flare ups, is it reasonable to then give them the rest of the day off to recover, for example?

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Elizabeth | 0 Posts

30 Jun, 2023 10:48

Could they record some of their training sessions so they can deliver some training via video, whilst being available to answer questions? This would help to cut down on the amount they are speaking if they are delivering the same sessions several times.
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Keith | 0 Posts

30 Jun, 2023 15:41

Reasonable has to be seen in the lens of the resources of the employer as well as the needs of the employee.

From that perspective, and given that their role is training both delivery and strategy, you need to look at how feasible it would be to separate out the two roles and if your can afford / require a part time trainer to do the actual delivery. And then what they would do with the time freed up (which I guess will be considerable)

Unless we are talking about a half hour at end of day I am not sure it would necessarily be a reasonable adjustment to give them rest of day off after every training session but thats something only you can decide.

Sit down with them, discuss options, then look at costs and impact on service and then its simply a judgement call I am afraid.
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Rosie | 0 Posts

3 Jul, 2023 07:28

I think it might also be a good idea to refer to OH to see if there's any possibility this aspect might improve in future - what you allow to be put in place temporarily might be quite different from a permanent change. Their GP may be trialling different pain management strategies etc. that may improve things down the line, or you may discover that the prognosis is likely only to deteriorate further.

OH may suggest some adjustments/alternatives no one's yet thought of, for a bit of guidance on what you could do for this employee.

Once you've tried all of these bits, you may find yourself with an ill-health capability on your hands sadly.
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David | 0 Posts

3 Jul, 2023 10:38

Hi Cheri

I think your employer needs to get a professional medical assessment / prognosis re the condition / disability and then hold a (documented) formal hearing to consider its impact upon the performance of this employee's duties (having taken full account of input etc from the employee and any companion etc.) and whether or not any adjustments are feasible and reasons why.

The outcome of this should determine next response: should either temporary or permanent adjustments not be considered reasonable and feasible then a further formal hearing which may even lead to capability dismissal might become necessary,

This IMHO is the kind of process your employer needs to follow in order to avoid potemtially-costly unlawful discrimination claims and consequences
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