Reasonable adjustments due to disability

Anoneemoose

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia/CFS and have been off work for 8 weeks (going back next week so will be 9 when I return).

I understand that Fibro is classed as a 'disability' in that it is a long term condition (obviously that is a very simplified way of saying it)!

Anyway, I currently work 20 hours over 4 days which was actually increased from 16 hours over 3 days last year. Since then, I have noticed I have increasingly become worse, particularly with fatigue and brain fog.

Work have been good (well the occ health dept have, my line manager is as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike). Occ health have arranged for me to have a phased return which sounds great however, I have requested if it would be possible for me to reduce my hours to 17.5 and work over 3 days. This means I will have 2 shortish days and one longer but if I could do say mon, wed, fri then I would have a day in between to 'recharge'.

Anyway my TL said "it's not easy to change shift here and I don't know if you would be allowed to do that". Basically because it doesn't fit in with the 'normal' shift patterns. I was under the impression that they had to make reasonable adjustments when you have a chronic illness or disability, for example, reduced hours/days. Now I totally appreciate they can say what I have requested is 'not reasonable' if that is true however I cannot see how it can be. My office is open from 8-8 mon - sat and the 2 days which would be the shorter, would only be 15 mins different from what i do now. Obviously the third day would be a couple of hours longer. I work where we deal with cases and have weekly targets (worked out at an average per hour) so as long as I hit these then I can't see how it could be detrimental to the office.

Anyway, i was just wondering if anyone could advise how I could approach this once again and if they refuse, do I just have to 'put up' with it??

Thanks in advance.

teabelly

It's nothing to do with being reasonable. It's more to do with a power thing. Managers don't like to offer what you asked for even if it is perfectly sensible as they feel they've lost power to someone below them. It's plain stupid when it solves the problem.

I'd tell them 4 days a week is too much and you could easily be off again but you think a 3 day week is much more reasonable. But make the 3 days 'full' days not shortened ones ie do the same hours as everyone else. If they still object then they're being difficult on purpose basically. If you have a disability then I don't think asking to work 3 normal days instead of 4 is a massive threat to the company and nor unreasonable. If you can have an occy health referral and mention that you are suffering with 4 days and that 3 are manageable then if they make you do 4 days and you go off again then it is something they could have easily prevented. It doesn't reflect well on them to push someone into a pattern that causes their disability to flare up. Especially when they've been told in advance that is likely to happen. If you can get a doctor to also recommend a well note of 3 days work it's also much harder to directly go against a medical professional.

Anoneemoose

teabelly wrote: »

It's nothing to do with being reasonable. It's more to do with a power thing. Managers don't like to offer what you asked for even if it is perfectly sensible as they feel they've lost power to someone below them. It's plain stupid when it solves the problem.

I'd tell them 4 days a week is too much and you could easily be off again but you think a 3 day week is much more reasonable. But make the 3 days 'full' days not shortened ones ie do the same hours as everyone else. If they still object then they're being difficult on purpose basically. If you have a disability then I don't think asking to work 3 normal days instead of 4 is a massive threat to the company and nor unreasonable. If you can have an occy health referral and mention that you are suffering with 4 days and that 3 are manageable then if they make you do 4 days and you go off again then it is something they could have easily prevented. It doesn't reflect well on them to push someone into a pattern that causes their disability to flare up. Especially when they've been told in advance that is likely to happen. If you can get a doctor to also recommend a well note of 3 days work it's also much harder to directly go against a medical professional.

Thanks. I think even the full time days would be too much. I need a reduction in the hours back to kind of what I was like this time last yr. I only increased my hours then because it was forced upon me. I could have worked my 16 hours over 4 days but I would have been worse off financially due to childcare and travel for one extra day (which I say was forced) so that is why I agreed to the 20 hrs. It meant the extra pay made up for the extra costs. I hadn't had an official diagnosis then either.

Without going into too much detail, I know it wouldn't be detrimental to my company for me to do this. They might argue it is but I don't see how they could!!

I am going to docs on tues before returning to work so will see if he can put something on my fit note.

pmlindyloo

Certainly being flexible about hours is part of the reasonable adjustments that an employer would be asked to meet.

Have a read of this page:

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/guidance-for-employers/the-duty-to-make-reasonable-adjustments-for-disabled-people/reasonable-adjustments-in-practice/

and a browse of the website.

It might be worthwhile putting your requests into writing and asking them to respond. Ultimately if they refuse your request then it would be down to an employment tribunal to decide whether they have acted reasonably based on the reason they gave for refusing.

Of course it is far better to sort this out amicably as any resort to an employment tribunal is stressful and causes friction.

Are you a member of a union that could speak on your behalf if they refuse your request?

I suspect that they will do everything they can do help as they will be aware of their responsibilities and your 'rights'.

Anoneemoose

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Certainly being flexible about hours is part of the reasonable adjustments that an employer would be asked to meet.

Have a read of this page:

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/guidance-for-employers/the-duty-to-make-reasonable-adjustments-for-disabled-people/reasonable-adjustments-in-practice/

and a browse of the website.

It might be worthwhile putting your requests into writing and asking them to respond. Ultimately if they refuse your request then it would be down to an employment tribunal to decide whether they have acted reasonably based on the reason they gave for refusing.

Of course it is far better to sort this out amicably as any resort to an employment tribunal is stressful and causes friction.

Are you a member of a union that could speak on your behalf if they refuse your request?

I suspect that they will do everything they can do help as they will be aware of their responsibilities and your 'rights'.

Thank you! That is very helpful. I am in a union actually (oops I forgot about them). I shall contact them although I was hoping to resolve without too much fuss and my company don't like people to know their rights or have someone acting for them who do!

pmlindyloo

Anoneemoose wrote: »

Thank you! That is very helpful. I am in a union actually (oops I forgot about them). I shall contact them although I was hoping to resolve without too much fuss and my company don't like people to know their rights or have someone acting for them who do!

I absolutely agree with you about trying to resolve this amicably first.

If they don't resolve it to your satisfaction then I would proceed with the formal side of things.

In the end you want to continue working there so it is preferable to keep things as amicable as possible.

Savvy_Sue

The thing is, you talk about shifts. If you're working an absolutely different set of hours to anyone else, does it matter? Who's going to take up the extra work you can't get done if you reduce your hours? You need to give the answers to these questions to your employer, rather than expecting them to work it out: you want to make it easier for them to say "yes that's fine" rather than "no, that won't work".

Anoneemoose

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

The thing is, you talk about shifts. If you're working an absolutely different set of hours to anyone else, does it matter? Who's going to take up the extra work you can't get done if you reduce your hours? You need to give the answers to these questions to your employer, rather than expecting them to work it out: you want to make it easier for them to say "yes that's fine" rather than "no, that won't work".

I get that but I will actually be working within the same hours the rest of my team are in. And they have already indicated (although not said for definite) that a reduction in hours is possible. This means that it is just when those hours are worked that is the issue.

I already said that my targets are worked out every week but on an hourly basis. So for example; if my target was 1 unit per hour, I could still achieve that regardless of when I was actually working those hours.

Yorkie1

Is Occ Health prepared to recommend the work pattern / hours you've suggested?

If so, that will be a powerful argument on your behalf, as opposed to just you suggesting it.

Anoneemoose

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Is Occ Health prepared to recommend the work pattern / hours you've suggested?

If so, that will be a powerful argument on your behalf, as opposed to just you suggesting it.

OH haven't said anything apart from regarding my phased return. I would need to get referred back to them now as she closed the case now I am returning to work.

Hopefully my doc will write something for me. I want to keep working, I like the job. I just don't want to run myself down.

Also, if I thought there was a genuine reason for them not wanting me to change and that it would be detrimental then I would take it on the chin! I just know that if will not affect the office.

jetplane

I would think you have a strong case for a reduction in hours based on the fact that the increase in hours has proven to exasperate your condition.

The aim of occ health is for you to remain in work, therefore it would be reasonable to reduce your hours to a manageable level.

If brain fog is a problem and you really wanted to push their buttons you could request a reduction in target ratio based on the fact that your disability slows your concentration and output.