Disability and sick pay

It is rarely a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010 (EA 10) to pay better sick pay to a disabled worker than a non-disabled worker (O’Hanlon v Commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs [2007] EWCA Civ. 283, RBS v Ashton [2009] UKEAT/0542/09/LA). This is for two reasons: firstly, paying extra sick pay is not generally regarded as supporting a return to work (meaning that it is not a reasonable step to expect an employer to take) and, secondly, there is a public policy need to ensure the duty to make reasonable adjustments does not deter employers from employing disabled people. There is an exception where the worker remains off sick because the employer has failed to make reasonable adjustments (Nottinghamshire CC v Meikle [2004] EWCA Civ. 859) (see Chapter 7: Reasonable Adjustments).