Yes and no.
Yes, because your employer must make allowances for the impact of your disability on your ability to do your job and in particular is legally obliged to make reasonable adjustments that will permit your full and effective participation in the workplace.
Where employees and employers sometimes come to blows is in not agreeing about what is and is not reasonable, remembering that the adjustment is only required if it is reasonable and has a prospect of alleviating the disadvantage.
Apparently simple concepts can lead to complex disputes.
No, because your employer is paying you to do a job and is entitled to have the job done correctly. They must be able to give constructive feedback and to suggest when performance might not be up to scratch without a disabled employee hiding behind their disability as an excuse for the poor performance. Disability is not a shield to poor performance or to misconduct (although the latter might be mitigated by disability-related issues).
You must be capable of performing the role you are employed to do and if your employer needs to manage your performance to upskill you and get you used to their ways of working, they are entitled to do without this being branded as detrimental treatment or harassment. It is a legitimate expectation that you can do the job you are employed to do.
Reasonable adjustments will only take you so far. An employer is not obliged to change the fundamental aspects of the role to suit a disabled employee. If you cannot do the job and adjustments have been implemented and your performance has not improved you can expect to face a capability process and ultimately dismissal.
Employers have a duty to consider adjustments around internal processes and decisions to sanction or dismiss employees with disabilities.
As with most things employment-related there is a balancing act between being supporting the employee with a disability and the employerâs reasonable expectation that the employee can do the job they have been hired to do and are being paid to do.
The reasonable adjustments duty is not a duty to do everything possible to assist the disabled employee. The disabled employee is not an object of charity. The duty has its limits. And this is where the reasonableness of adjustments kicks in.
If you want to understand more about reasonable adjustments the Equality and Human Rights Commission Employment Statutory Code of Practice is essential reading. You can access it online here. Chapter 6 deals with the duty to make reasonable adjustments.
For key cases on reasonable adjustments the one case to read is Archibald v Fife Council [2004] UKHL 32.
This blog was written by Karen Jackson, CEO of didlaw and a leading expert in disability discrimination in the workplace.Â
