The duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers

The duty to make reasonable adjustments can support bargaining over rights such as sick leave and sick pay and help to resist attempts to introduce more punitive absence management procedures. As the Court of Appeal pointed out in Griffiths v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] EWCA Civ 1265, following a claim instigated by the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), while all workers suffer from stress and anxiety as a result of a disciplinary attendance procedure, disabled workers are likely to suffer more, as their condition increases their risk of absences.

Under the duty, found in section 20, EA 10, employers must take all reasonable steps to alleviate any “substantial disadvantage” to a disabled worker when compared to their non-disabled colleagues as a result of any “provision, criterion or practice” at work.