Dismissal due to poor eyesight?

Uncertain

jdturk wrote: »

Yes and no, if the over time of the 10 people is only for the 'busy season' then it could cause problems but as we have said before determining what 'reasonable' is that causes the problems

Yes.....

Arguably having to make any "reasonable adjustment" will cause some problems and may well be an expense. The threshold of "reasonable" tends to creep upwards and, as said before, more is expected of large employers. Again we could debate if this is fair - either way!

bryanb

I was able to draw my final salary pension early due to an eyesight problem preventing me doing my job. Might be worth checking your pension scheme rules.

zzzLazyDaisy

katsu wrote: »

I'm interested in Daisy's post as employers do terminate people's contracts if they believe there is no reasonable prospect of the person being able to return to work, even if not all the company sick pay has been exhausted. .

Firstly, apologies, I have been unable to find the relevant case reference. Unfortunately being retired I no longer have access to the full library of case law that I had when I was working.

As someone else has said, the issue of breach of contract depends on the status of the company sick pay scheme.

If it states in the contract that in the event of being unable to work due to illness or injury the employee is entitled to (say) three months' full pay followed by three months' half pay, and the employer dismisses the employee after, say, three months off sick on the grounds of capability, then that would be a clear breach of contract.

If the sick pay scheme is stated to be discretionary, then, on the face of it the employer is not contractually obliged to pay sick pay. However there are a number of issues here - the first is that it is an implied term of the contract that the employer will act in good faith, and has a duty not to act capriciously. Also if the reality is that sick pay is normally paid then it may have become incorporated into the contract by virtue of custom and practice, and also if the employee concerned has a condition that amounts to a disability, then an employer that chooses to terminate the employment contract during the sick pay period may leave themselves open to a DDA claim, even if the sick pay scheme is discretionary (because a disabled employee is more likely to rely on the sick pay scheme than his/her able-bodied colleagues).

These are legal issues which must be considered on a case by case basis and are too complex to be given justice on an internet forum, but I have outlined them so you have an idea of the kind of considerations that an employment tribunal would take into account.

The fact that employers do terminate people before the sick pay scheme has been exhausted is often more to do with the fact that they are not aware of the potential legal implications - and fortunately for them, neither is the employee.

getmore4less

Does the company provide long term disability insurance, my last one did as the followup to sick pay

If you could not return to work they paid index link reduced salary till the pensions kicked in.