Terminal Illness - Rights as an Employee?

Bach_Off

Just to finish off this thread, for anyone else finding themselves with similar concerns, I thought I would pass on the benefit of advice obtained from solicitors who specialize in employment law. This advice was provided in October 2009 and does not reflect any changes in the law since.

It read.....

"...whether A COMPANY could terminate ?'s employment and hence his Long Term Disability Plan (LTDP) and life insurance.

The terms of the LTDP do say that A COMPANY can terminate his employment for any reason if this entails him losing the LTDP and hence the life insurance. However, the are limits on this and various remedies that he would have if they did so.

Cancer is a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). However, recent legal developments have made it much more difficult to make a claim for disability discrimination and it is likely that a claim that his dismissal was discriminatory on the grounds of disability would fail, because the test would be whether a non-disabled person who was off work for a similar period would have been dismissed. Only if a non-disabled person who was off work would not have been dismissed but he was, would he have a claim. There are plans to change this law scheduled for next year but this is not yet in force.

However, that is not the end of the matter, because A COMPANY has a duty of the DDA to make 'reasonable adjustments' to its policies as a result of his diability. In the circumstances, we would have a strong case that it is reasonable adjustment not to dismiss him, when A COMPANY has not significant ongoing liability (in that the benefits are insruance). Should it be necessary to bring such a claim, I would anticipate a good chance of success.

In practical terms, though the likelihood of ? being dismissed by A COMPANY seems to be very small indeed. Even if someone at A COMPANY were minded to dismiss him (bearing in mind there is no real benefit in doing so as the LTDP and life insurance are insured), the company would I am sure shy away from the public relations disaster that would ensue if, in current times, the company dismissed an employee in order to avoid a life insurance payment to his family.

In the circumstances, while I could not entirely rule out A COMPANY trying to dismiss ?, it seems unlikely either that would bo inclined to, or that they would actually run the risks of doing so. Should they do so, however, he would have a good prospect of recovering compensation

LadyMissA

geri1965 wrote: »

I'm not sure this is true of all employers.

yeah some places dont pay anything