The Equality Act 2010 with Regards to Disability
According to the 2010 Equality Act (EA), it is illegal if an employer is prejudiced against disabled people, regardless if they are a worker or someone requesting work. This equality and diversity legislation also relates to the recruitment, promotion and dismissal of your employees. When you follow the necessary adjustments according to the law, you need to make sure that a handicapped person will not be disadvantaged significantly as opposed to another person who is not handicapped.
Understanding what is considered a disability
About 20 percent of adults in Great Britain are disabled according to the term’s broad legal definition there. The EA states that a disabled person is someone with a physical or mental limitation that seriously affects their ability to perform regular day-to-day activities. MS sufferers, cancer and HIV patients, and those with particular visual impairments are also categorized automatically as possessing a disability.
Dealing with poor job performance
When a person with disabilities has a poor work performance, you are legally able to dismiss or discipline them if that is the action that would be taken if the situation involved an employee without disabilities. If a disabled employee’s unacceptable performance is related to the disability, reasonable accommodations must be made to ensure that the employee can properly perform the job.
What are “reasonable adjustments”?
Keep your business practices and policies up to date to ensure that your disabled workers are on a level playing field with non-disabled workers, as is required by current equality and diversity legislation. Employers must also provide the necessary assistance or services that would keep a disabled worker from being at a disadvantage. That may encompass the acquisition of extra or customized equipment in the workplace, and also necessitates complete awareness on the employer’s part that the employee suffers from a disadvantage of this nature.
Avoiding such a problem
To prevent future problems, employers would do well to understand any adjustments that a disabled applicant or employee may feel need to be made specifically for them. Though employers should be the ones in charge of communication when offering a job to a disabled person, they also must be read up on the questions they can and cannot ask in relation to the health of the one being interviewed.
Being familiar with EA requirements will enable you to retain valuable employees who become disabled and help you to avoid discrimination claims that could have an adverse effect on employee recruitment and on your relationship with clients, suppliers and other companies in your industry.
Not sure where you stand with regards to employment law? 360 diversity supports UK businesses to setup and maintain successful policies which follow equality and diversity legislation.