Breach of DDA

[Allwood]

My partner works part time in a well know organisation she has been there almost 6 years she also drawing the state pension. She is been discriminated again by management because she has a disability. She has asked many times for a change of lighter duties because of her disability to no avail.

 

She is the process of putting in again another grievance as that is all her can do and the unions that is in say that she must keep doing this, which is very exhausting for her to keep doing this. She now feels that she cannot continue working there as other members staff are victimisation her as well management because of her disability.

 

Dose anyone know about start times, although my partner is never late for work since she started in the nightmare place to work, when she get to her place of work the external door of the building she and other staffs has to touch in and wait for a very slow lift and when they get up to 3 floors where they have to touch in twice more to get to the cloak staff cloak room. She then has to touch out of the cloak room and wait for the staff like to take her to the floor that she is working on. When she get out of the lift at the ground floor she has to touch in again as apparently that is when it deemed to be at work.

 

When is staffs deemed to be a work is it when they initially touch in at the main door or is it when they are at their workstation.

 

Sometimes the lift broken for over week and she refused to use 100 steps to get into the cloak room and used the internal life. She has to use the steps when she finishes her shift as all of the other exits are closed.

 

There are much serious breaches of DDA and I will not go into them just now as she wants to put her grievance and see how it goes she cannot go into work now as it has it is making her disability worse.

[scousegeezer]

Allwood,

You are deemed to be at work once at your workstation. As an ex union rep I can assure you this is the case - have dealt with a couple of these in my time.

 

Yur partners union does not sound too good. Once you have put in a grievance you DO NOT have to keep putting in further grievances. You are then able to go striaght to tribunal. I need further dets before I can advise you further , as regards reasonable udjustments.

 

Cheers - Scousegeezer

[Allwood]

Thanks for your reply Scousegeezer, regarding the DDA the firm conceded that they did not deal with it adequately 2 years ago at after meeting due to grievance submitted by partner and a reluctant union rep did attend that meeting with her. The union rep was more protective of the firm than my partner. After many months an unsuitable reasonable adjustment was put in place after that grievance and that adjustable was unsuitable but my partner used it for a year until it broke and wrote to HR about last year together with pay queries. HR asked my partner asked if the complaint should be taken as a grievance but my said that she prefer it was deal without a grievance hearing. She got a letter back from HR last year confirming that a manager would deal with it. Of course it was never deal with and in fact it got worse.

 

Should this now be taken to ET as there has been many attempt by partner to sort it out to no avail. My partner was not able to attend work last week due to the adverse effect her treatment at work.

 

Should my partner put in another grievance or just put in ET to get this sorted out once and for all.

[scousegeezer]

Allwood,

The decision of whether to go to ET now, or submit further grievances is a choice to be made by your partner and yourself. Personally I would opt for the ET, especially as you have stated that she has complained on a few ocassions and nothing has been done after the first "reasonable adjustment" broke down. Your partner should contact her union rep and explain that she wishes to be referred to the union solicitor. They should send a form for her to apply for the union "legal aid" scheme. Then the union and the solicitor will take it from there. I hope your partner has got all the evidence to show that she has submitted a grievances and other complaints , copies of the ltters and grievance forms etc. From now on she should keep copies of all correspondence she receives from the company and also keep a record of any conversations she has with company managers etc. The records should be signed and dated when she makes a record the conversations etc. Good luck with eberything.

 

Cheers - Scousegeezer.

[Allwood]

Scousegeezer what is union legal aid, I never heard of it before, I was under the impression that when in a union and paid subscriptions that gave people the automatic assist of one of their solicitors.

[scousegeezer]

Allwood,

The explanation you have put down is exactly what I mean, just the union solicitor will deal with it. I put "legal aid" in inverted commas, just to show that it was free.

 

Cheers - Scousegeezer

[Allwood]

Many thanks for that Scousegeezer, my partner join a union when she first stated to work at her firm but after the serious breaches of DDA and her union was not concerned about and said that she should keep putting in grievance she joined another union which is not more much promising either. The rep does not have a landline and if my partner wants to contact her she had to used a mobile that was given to her by the union. Surly this person should a landline that people should contacted her on.

 

Also since the first breach of DDA her union has been changed does this mean that she will have to go thourgh the grievance procdure all over again with the new union rep. I think she has got more of the correspondence since the first grievance. :-|

[scousegeezer]

Allwood,

No, your partner will NOT have to go through the grievance procedure again. E,ployment law and the DDA were changed last year. You no longer have to go through the grievance procedure before taking the employer to an ET. However, it does help your case if you do. That said, your partner has previously submitted a grievance - albeit with the assistance of a union rep from another union to the current one. So she has met the previous requirements to submit a grievance. She can now go straight to ET, with the assistance of the current union. If the current union state she has to submit a grievance with their assistance , just remind them of the change of law; as mentioned above and also that she has previously submitted a agrievance. She could also authorise her current union to obtain the case papers from her previous union regarding the previously submitted grievance. Hope this all helps. Once again good luck.

 

cheers - Scousegeezer.

[Allwood]

Many thanks again Scousegeezer, you have been very helpful. Where can I get detail of last year DDA changes.

 

Also during first grievance the Union rep knew the HR person and signed the notes that she made as my partner did. My partner asked for a copy of the notes but they said that they photocoper had broken down and my partner would not get copies of them. The union rep that was with my partner said not to worry as he knew the HR person and he trused her. My partner did not agree with most of the grievance replies save for the bit where she said they did not deal with her retune to work adequately ie they should have made reasonable adjustments.

 

My partner then took out an appeal against her replies and the rep came with me then as well. Again notes were make and for me to sign but my partner was not given a copy of these note and the union rep said that was OK. My partnerfirm made unlawful deduction to her salary and her firm would not give her a reason for this she was without salary all over christmas that year and again they have made unlawful deduction and have not dealt with it since last year despite the HR manager letter saying that it would be dealt with by her colleague.

Edited May 24, 2010 by Allwood

[scousegeezer]

Allwood,

Just google Disability Discrimination Act and it should all come up.

 

Cheers - Scousegeezer

[Conniff]

Allwood, is your partner registerd as disabled?

[scousegeezer]

Coniff,

If you mean the green card registration - as being registered disabled - that has not existed for many years and I am not aware of there being any other type of " registered disabled " anymore. The DDA has now taken over from that. To my knowledge there is no hard and fast definition of disabled - but basically it comes down to whether you have a condition that has lasted/or is expected to last more than twelve months.

 

Cheers - Scousegeezer.

[Conniff]

Thanks SG. I am not up on this, but how would an employer know if that person can't make it up the steps because of a disability or just plain can't be bothered to walk up them?

 

Just using that as a scenario for instance.

[Allwood]

Conniff, the firm does allow people with a disability to us the internal lift because if the walked up that amount of staps they would need resuscitation at reaching the top. I feel that is a awful amount of steps for staff members young and old to negotiage before starting a shift of say 8 or 9 hrs on their feet. There is no way staff can get out of the firm when shfit is finished they have to do the staps but it is much easier to walk down the 100 steps then to have to walk up them.

[scousegeezer]

Conniff,

That would be up to the individual and the company's OHU to sort out. The individual could attend for a medical assessment or could sign under Data Protection for hios medical notes from his/her GP to be released to the company OHU. That said, the company can and have done so to individuals in the recent past, send you to an "independant" doctor for assessment. Of course he is "independant" even tho the co. are paying his bill. If the company do not accept that an individual is covered by the DDA after all that, the only people who can decide would be an ET or a court. I have not heard of such a case at the present time - thats not to say that there has not been one. MOst ET's are concerned with not making reasonable adjustments or general discrimination against disabled people.

 

Cheers - Scousegeezer.

[kfdh1962]

ref the deifinition of disability, under the Disability Discrimination Act, a disability is defined as

" a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term effect on a persons ability to carry out normal day to day activities"

 

 

normal day to day activites inlcude

• mobility
  
• manual dexterity
  
• physical co-ordination
  
• continence
  
• ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objects
  
• speech , hearing or eyesight
  
• memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand
  
• perception of risk of physical danger
  

It if often possible for employers to establish themselves whether an individual is likely to be covered by the act based on the illness or condition they have and act acordingly if they believe they are covered. If there is any doubt as to whether they are covered by the act, then as scousegeezer says they could obtain a medical report from her gp under the Access to Medical Recorts Act to establish the nature of the illness and whether the person is likely to be covered by the act.

 

Its not clear from your posts what condition your partner has, has the employer obtained medical reports, and what adjustments did they put in place?.. maybe you could give us an indication of this

 

if your partner is covered by the act, and they have not made reasonable adjustments, and they are not prepared to discuss any further adjustments , then the next course of action would be an ET

Edited May 24, 2010 by kfdh1962
missed a couple of words out

[Conniff]

Conniff,

That would be up to the individual and the company's OHU to sort out. The individual could attend for a medical assessment or could sign under Data Protection for hios medical notes from his/her GP to be released to the company OHU. That said, the company can and have done so to individuals in the recent past, send you to an "independant" doctor for assessment. Of course he is "independant" even tho the co. are paying his bill. If the company do not accept that an individual is covered by the DDA after all that, the only people who can decide would be an ET or a court. I have not heard of such a case at the present time - thats not to say that there has not been one. MOst ET's are concerned with not making reasonable adjustments or general discrimination against disabled people.

 

Cheers - Scousegeezer.

 

Thanks again SG. I have the curiosity of an 8 year old and love to know these things. Who knows, I might need that information myself in the future.

 

Conniff, the firm does allow people with a disability to us the internal lift because if the walked up that amount of staps they would need resuscitation at reaching the top. I feel that is a awful amount of steps for staff members young and old to negotiage before starting a shift of say 8 or 9 hrs on their feet. There is no way staff can get out of the firm when shfit is finished they have to do the staps but it is much easier to walk down the 100 steps then to have to walk up them.

 

Thanks Allwood. I was just wondering how they were judged as disabled if they no longer have a card.

[Allwood]

The Firm OH has confirmed that my partner has a underlining health problem as defined in teh comapny managing sick abesnce policy. That was 3 years ago but they company has made very little effort to make reasonable adjustment.

[Conniff]

The Firm OH has confirmed that my partner has a underlining health problem as defined in teh comapny managing sick abesnce policy. That was 3 years ago but they company has made very little effort to make reasonable adjustment.

 

Then listen closely to the advice being given and go for it.

[kfdh1962]

Hi Allwood,

from your last post its sounds as though they agree yoru partner has an underlying health issue, although that does not necessarily mean it would be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act

It would be good for us to establish if the health issue is likely to come under DDA as this would put your in a much stronger position re the reasonable adjustments, we would need an idea of what your partners condition is to determine that..Some things are automatically covered, for instance MS, cancer, HIV, whereas some conditions need to be assessed to determine if there is a substantial and long term effect to establish if they are covered...or at what point they become covered..

[Allwood]

If and when ET is sent to employer will this make things worse for the employee, will s/he be subjected to more harassment by colleagues and management. Does any one what would be the position of the employee if something like this was to happen….

[honeybee13]

Hi there Allwood. Have you answered the questions from yesterday please? If you don't, it will probably make it harder for us to advise you.

 

HB

[Allwood]

Hi HB…. it is very likely my partners disability does come under the DDA it is indeed a long term effects will progress not get better whatsoever it can only be control with property treatment.

 

My partner is concern if she puts in a ET it will have adverse affect with colleagues and managers at work while she is there.

 

Contacted Union to no avail they do not seem to be interested in their members employment problems unless the workplace in unionized then they may respond but if the work place is not unionized then they will be reluctant to do anything positive like to reply to a query:mad:

[honeybee13]

I'm sure others will comment, but I didn't think this was how unions worked. A lot people I thought, joined to have the added protection of legal advice.

 

Can you move the query higher up the food chain at the union?

 

HB

[kfdh1962]

Hi Allwood,

its is still unclear what the exact nature of your partners condition is as you have not specifically stated this , therefor that is making it more difficult for us to advise you on whether it is covered by DDA. You mentioned that it is likely to get worse which suggests a progressive condition. such progressive conditions may be automatically covered i.e MS, others may be covered the point where the progression of the condition falls under the long term adverse effect although assessment of this may still be required....

 

in respect to what happens if you bring a claim, if your partner is then viticimised for excercisng a protected right then there could be a victimisation claim to answer, as per section 55 of the Disability Discrimination Act