Deemed disabilities
[ch 5: pages 57-58]Certain conditions are deemed to be a disability. Someone with cancer, HIV or multiple sclerosis is protected automatically on diagnosis. The same applies to those who are blind or partially sighted, or have severe disfigurements (for example, scars, birthmarks, limb or posture deformation or skin diseases, excluding tattoos or body piercings).
There are also special rules about progressive conditions, recurring conditions and conditions that can be corrected by medication or treatment. EA 10 also protects someone who was disabled in the past but who has since recovered.
The TUC is campaigning for long Covid to be deemed to be a disability. Unions can challenge the approach to sickness absence on the grounds of disabled workers’ rights, as the PCS civil service union did at the Land Registry in 2015. Members were successful at the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in arguing that they had not been awarded a bonus because they had received formal warnings for sick absence.
The EAT found that the time off was all attributed to disability and they had been discriminated against under equality legislation. The judge ruled that the only relevant fact was that they were denied the award because of their disability-related absence (UKEAT/0149/14/BA Land Registry v Houghton & Ors (Disability Discrimination: Disability related discrimination) [2015]).