Sacked for being disabled?

MissNice

Hi All,
Just posted this in the disability forum but advised to post here also.
Please be nice!
My boyfriend is disabled but chooses to push himself and work full time. He is very good at his job but is under a lot of pressure, they are making redundancies and he is already doing 2 peoples jobs in his department, whereas all similar departments still have 2 people doing his job. His condition means he has a low immune system and will pick up colds etc easily and they knock him out for a week or two at a time, the main part of his condition is a problem with his feet though. He tries to walk as "normally" as possible because he feels ashamed of being disabled and hates showing weakness to anybody, but work see this as he is absolutely fine because he is not in a wheelchair currently or his leg isn't hanging off!
This year he has probably had about 3 weeks off sick so far, 2 weeks off for a severe ear and jaw infection which the doctor signed him off work for (not a part of his disability, but the infection would have been worsened due to his low immune system) and then a few days when he is in too much pain in his legs/ feet to go to work.
His manager has been threatening him with disciplinaries for all of these occasions. He got occupational health involved who said they will try and help out, but they haven't really done much to help him.
He was called into a meeting yesterday (after taking a weeks annual leave, about 1 week after he was off sick for 2 weeks with the ear infection so he wasn't in work much over the last month but the leave was already booked) with his manager and managers manager who told him he is getting a disciplinary for his time off and if his attendance doesn't improve then they will sack him. They have also demoted him (luckily without a pay cut) to a job with much less responsibility and a less challenging role, one he was doing about 3-4 years ago. He told them in the meeting he cant improve his attendance because he doesn't know when his disability will play up and reminded them when they hired him that they knew he was disabled and they would work around that.
They are making redundancies soon and we are both really worried he will be first out the door because of his attendance. He works with other people who are often bunking off work (caught on facebook doing other things, or always taking every Monday or Friday off sick etc) and have no form of disability, yet the managers seem to excuse this behaviour and let them carry on but it feels like they are discriminating against him because of his disability.
He works very hard for his company and doesn't want to depend on benefits even though he could if he chose not to work. The company he works for are supposedly disabled friendly but it looks like they are trying to force him out.
I can see things from their point of view, he isn't as reliable as some people as he will take more time off sick because of his disability, but he gets more work done than most and when they hired him, he was upfront and honest about everything from the very start but they hired him because he's a hard worker.
We've both said he needs to get out of there and into a new job, but he used to love his job and he is very good at it, but he hates going to work at the moment because of the way his manager is behaving. I know generally if the manager wants you out, they will find a way to get rid of you.
They seem very close minded about his condition and he almost has to prove that there is something wrong with him to get any kind of leeway with things.
We are looking for a new job for him, but we are both really angry that it has come to this. Is there anything he can do to fight back against them? To me, this seems like discrimination based on him being disabled.

RichardD1970

IJSmith wrote: »

If he has not been there for over 2 years then they can dismiss you at any time.

Not entirely correct in this context, hopefully someone with some real knowledge will be along soon.

J_i_m

The thread suggests that he's been there for well over two years.

My suggestion would be to involve an union, and continue closely liaising with the doctor and occupational health.

Takeaway_Addict

Unsurprisingly OP you have a very biased view towards your partner and are only ever going to be hearing one side.

Looking more objectively he has had 15 days of work in around about 70 that hee would have worked so has a sickness rate of 20-22% which even with disabilites being covered is likely IMO to exceed any reasonable adjustment that can be made by the employer.

You've not actually stated anything in your post that smacks of discrimination because nothing has happened, no redundancies have been made yet so its all surmising.

OH seem to have done their job in stopping disciplinaries occuring. If he is now getting disciplined then make sure they do it correctly and allow proper representation etc

Attendance can be used in the caluclations for redundancy but if he is covered by the equality act he should be fighting for an adjustment to be made on the scoring.

Is he a member of a union? If he is he needs to be speaking to them to fight the redundancy if it comes and the procedures that go before it.

As you say he is better of out of it regardless but whilst he is there he will need to fight his cause.

Takeaway_Addict

IJSmith wrote: »

Look at you trying deliberately to undermine me. Everyone knows you can be dismissed in your first 2 years and there is nothing you can do about it.

On the whole yes but there are certain protections afforded, such as someone sacked due to discriminatory reasons in the eyes of the law, ie sex gender, disabilities covered by the equality act etc. There are also immediate protection given to those that stand up for statutory rights and are dismissed for this.

lakes17

IJSmith wrote: »

Look at you trying deliberately to undermine me. Everyone knows you can be dismissed in your first 2 years and there is nothing you can do about it.

Wrong! If you're dismissed within 2yrs and you can prove it was due to being disabled then you can take them to a tribunal.

tomtontom

IJSmith wrote: »

Look at you trying deliberately to undermine me. Everyone knows you can be dismissed in your first 2 years and there is nothing you can do about it.

Please go away.

MissNice, assuming your bf meets the definition of disabled in the Equality Act he is entitled to reasonable adjustments. Relaxing absence trigger points can be a reasonable adjustment, however it does not mean he can have unlimited time off. Is there anything else the employer can do to assist, perhaps flexi time or reduced hours, or working from home? They are all potentially RAs, as long as they can be reasonably accommodated with the business.

I would agree with J i m, it would be useful to get input from OH on what may be RAs and help him continue to work.

t0rt0ise

Off on a bit of a tangent, but is your boyfriend seeing an immunologist for the immune deficiency? I too have such a disorder and am taking daily antibiotics to ward off the infections and it really helps. It does need monitoring by a specialist though or you can come unstuck.

fruitedeli

IJSmith wrote: »

Look at you trying deliberately to undermine me. Everyone knows you can be dismissed in your first 2 years and there is nothing you can do about it.

1) Not everyone knows an employee can be terminated within their first two years of employment.
2) Disability discrimination is an exemption to the aforementioned statement.
3) There's a difference between 'trying' to do something to having done it.
4) You've been embarrassed once again.

PS: And yes, he's undermined you.
PPS: I also had to shame you a bit more. I suggest you stop making things so personal. You gave incorrect advice and it does need correcting.

PHILANTHROPIST

Miss Nice,

It would appear that your relevant thread has become slightly sidetracked by certain members somewhat childish posts. Apologies.

Returning to your legitimate query. Discounting the off tangent posts, some of the above replies are for the main part reasonably accurate. You allege disability discrimination in the workplace. This can be a complex area of law that has a raft of confusing and overlapping terminology.

IMHO you would benefit from advice from a suitably qualified third party on a free and confidential basis. I would recommend the EHRC/EASS - see link below. They have an excellent website and you can call them for free during weekdays. They should provide a professional service:

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/about-us/equality-advisory-support-service/

RichardD1970

PHILANTHROPIST wrote: »

Miss Nice,

It would appear that your relevant thread has become slightly sidetracked by certain members somewhat childish posts. Apologies.

Sorry, would you like to elaborate on that?

A suspected serial troll posted erroneous information and was subsequently corrected by others. How is this childish or irrelevant?