Wife now in severe pain

[batman1956]

My wife works as a nurse at a G.P practice.

 

 

She suffers with arthritis and lately has started to suffer severe pain and is limited with her movement.

 

A medical assessment shows problems with both her legs and her back

 

 

she spoke to her superior about a slight reduction to her working hours,

 

 

After a meeting she was told that they were willing to consider a job share which would significantly reduce her income and working hours

but the reduction which my wife suggested was unworkable.

 

Having read through various bits of legislation it is unclear what my wife's rights are

 

 

. Could anyone enlighten us please.

[Sidewinder]

Hi

 

It is almost certain that your wife has certain rights under the Equality Act. Where the condition has a serious impact on day to day working, then it may well be classed as a disability under the Act. Accordingly the employer must consider 'reasonable adjustments' which would allow your wife to remain in work so far as is possible.

 

This doesn't however mean that the employer MUST accept whatever suggestions that are made, but they MUST be able to justify any refusal. Sadly I feel that the employer here may just about be on the right side of the argument, but that shouldn't close the door altogether, although I would suggest that more information should have been provided as to why the suggestion is 'unworkable', although to mitigate this they HAVE suggested an alternative arrangement (even though this is 'unworkable' for your own circumstances)

 

From the employer's point of view, the surgery is running a service which presumably requires the support of a nurse during specific periods. It may well be true that the 'slight' reduction in hours might have a detrimental effect on the service to patients, and that recruitment for the shortfall in hours would be unduly costly and difficult. That would certainly be justification for a refusal to allow your wife to reduce hours, whereas a job share might prove easier and less costly.

 

So, whilst there are rights and the employer must consider adjustments, there is also their right to refuse so long as there are adequate grounds to do so.

 

What is the prognosis for your wife's arthritis? Is it likely to get worse in the foreseeable future and might the job share not be a longer-term proposition that would work, even though there would be a certain level of hardship in the short term?

 

My feeling is that you could push this under the heading of disability rights, but I don't think you would win (even though it might make the employer think again about exactly what COULD be done to allow your wife to remain in work without making the arthritis worse). Is there a compromise that could be suggested - even a rescheduling of the services offered to patients which might prove attractive to the surgery? Are there any other nurses currently working part time who might be looking to step up their hours a little?

[batman1956]

Thanks for your well detailed reply, it is pretty much what we thought.

At the moment the prognosis is that with some pain management things should not get much worse.

We will have to see what the future brings.