Disability discrimination

laylo

Looking for some advice. Long story short. My husband had a works accident and has been off sick from work for over 3 years. He is unable to do his own job but there are other jobs within the company that he can do. He has been trying to get back since January 2012 but without success. They have now finished him on the grounds of capability. It has gone to appeal and the final outcome will be found out next week. If they don't find him something he will have to go to court on the grounds of disability discrimination. If they have to payout is it the amount for the rest of his working years?? Or is it just peanuts ? I'm at my wits end with it. Many thanks x

rogerblack

As I understand it - he has no automatic right to another job within the company.
He has rights that his emplyer must make 'reasonable adjustments' to his existing job - but if he simply can't do it with reasonable adjustments, he can be sacked.

Have you considered seeking compensation for the accident?

pauliboo

A reasonable adjustment might be to move him to a job that he can do, and the capability assessment should have resulted in that if it was possible. Is he in a union? He needs representation.

laylo

There are other jobs within the company that the union have expressed that he can do. Within their job they have to facilitate them moving around even without a disability. They just don't seem to be playing ball. There is another employee with similar if not worse disability that they have accommodated. He seems to be singled out because he has put a claim in against them for the accident.

colin13

Exact same thing happened to me,was assesed ,they said I needed office job,no office jobs,so paid off,:( in my experience,the company does not have to get you another job,:( the company had all the power

Confuseddot

Yeah and don't rely on the court either. Not the same situation but goes to show even if you done nothing wrong the company always win.

http://www.simpmar.com/blogs/employment-law-blog/employment-law-blog-posts/social-media-in-the-employment-law-spotlight-%E2%80%93-again!

Parva

Confuseddot wrote: »

Yeah and don't rely on the court either. Not the same situation but goes to show even if you done nothing wrong the company always win.

http://www.simpmar.com/blogs/employment-law-blog/employment-law-blog-posts/social-media-in-the-employment-law-spotlight-%E2%80%93-again!

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GlasweJen

If it goes to employment tribunal the payouts aren't brilliant, average payout for a disability claim is £8.5k which won't set him up for life.

Brassedoff

laylo wrote: »

Looking for some advice. Long story short. My husband had a works accident and has been off sick from work for over 3 years. He is unable to do his own job but there are other jobs within the company that he can do. He has been trying to get back since January 2012 but without success. They have now finished him on the grounds of capability. It has gone to appeal and the final outcome will be found out next week. If they don't find him something he will have to go to court on the grounds of disability discrimination. If they have to payout is it the amount for the rest of his working years?? Or is it just peanuts ? I'm at my wits end with it. Many thanks x

I have employed many people and had to release an employee for long term sickness.

To get it totally right each case has to be taken on there own merit. There is a limit to the time any employee can stay off work sick for either a consecutive period of time of for persistent short term sickness.

The employer should consider a different deployment, but does not have to consider any disability if the firm employes less than 15 people.

Your husband by being off work is guilty of "frustrating" his contract of employment. It is a long and complicated method to get right, but easy to get wrong.

From your side, your husband is long term sick and most likely feels one day he wants to return to his job.

From the employers point of view they have to cover the job, either with redeployment or most likely getting a temp in.

This leaves the employer in limbo. They really have one duty to stay in business and a small firm would find long term absence difficult.

A good employer will:

Ideally see if redeploying your husband would allow him to return, if even after doing this there is no prospect in the medium term, that is over 46 days and not less that 73 days. Then they take him down the disciplinary route.

They have to invite him in to work for a meeting where he can have a represtative. A union rep, co-worker or you. At the meeting the employer must try to find out why he is off sick and the genuine prospects of his return. Make sure you tell the truth or realistic return timeframe. This might have to be backed up by a medical.

If after the meeting, the employer can issue a notice informing him the intention to terminate the contract due to his "frustrating" the terms. The letter should give a couple of weeks for your husband to return. He must not try to be clever by returning for a short while and then going back on the sick as they can dismiss him for persistent absence due to sickness.

A normal employer will:

Send him a letter informing him that his contract of employment has been terminated.




I suggest you go to the CAB or employment rights office should there be one near you.

You could decide to go for a Tribunal, but e employer will just say the contract was frustrating the terms and had they not dismissed your husband other workers may have been in jeopardy.

In this type of case there is no need to take any other factor such as disability into account. Neither your husband or any other employee has the right to their job. All employeement is now short term in contract.

You may be right in thinking that he has been singled out because he made a claim. Not being funny, in my old day I and most people would do the same. The problems any company has when their insurers recieves a claim is unreal. Accidents happen. Paperwork sometimes falls out of date etc.

It's not a Tory thing. liebour under tony BLiar brought the frustrated term down to 46 weeks from the old 70 weeks in any 2 years.

pauliboo

I don't know whether this will be of benefit but it might help others when dealing with long-term sick and Disability.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/tucfiles/526/Sickness_Absence_and_Disability_Discrimination_Feb2013.pdf

mazza111

It also depends on whether there are jobs available in the company that your husband would be able to do. Although there are roles, there may not be any positions available.

I was a postie. With good IT skills, but there were no jobs within RM and a reasonable distance away that I could do, I was medically retired.