Pay and benefits

Disabled workers must receive the same pay and benefits as non-disabled workers. For example, an employer is deciding how much to pay two trainees who are starting work and both trainees will be doing the same job. If the employer decided to pay one of the trainees less because they were a disabled person, this would almost certainly be unlawful discrimination because of disability (EHRC website: Advice and guidance, Worker’s guidance).

Another example is where a disabled worker is told that they will not receive an annual contractual bonus as it took them longer to meet some of their deadlines because of disability-related sickness. This is likely to be discrimination arising from disability and will be unlawful under the EA 2010. In this type of situation, an employer should make a reasonable adjustment to allow the disabled worker more time to achieve a deadline to avoid less favourable treatment compared to a non-disabled person.

If a disabled worker does not receive paid long-term disability-related sick leave, in excess of the company sick pay policy, this may be indirect discrimination (unless it can be objectively justified). Cost tends to be one of the main reasons used to objectively justify indirect discrimination. Each case is individual and a tribunal will look very carefully at this reason to see if the indirect discrimination can be justified in each situation.