Dismissed when waiting for surgery

Lilacteresa

Hello,
I shall keep my post as short as possible.

My husband is 57and has been dismissed from his job following a face to face meeting with HR

He works within a Call Centre and has been employed by the company for just over 4 years.
He suffers with Menieres Disease (MD) and declared that on both his original job application and at the subsequent successful interview in June 2012.

Unfortunately he suffered a major MD attack on Christmas Day 2015 and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He has been signed off work since the 29th Dec 2015. My husband is now considerably better than he was and is having BAHA surgery at the end of August to help severe deafness and tinnitus in his right ear. He also suffers with PTSD.

Financially things have been difficult as his paid sick leave finished early February and since then we have lived on SSP (this ended earlier this month and has been replaced by ESA) and he has received PIP since the end of April
He also attended an Occupational Health assessment arranged by the company, where the professional stated that when he return to work it should initially be on fewer hours and as much work away from the phones as possible.

My husband's surgery is due at the end of August and with a 6 week recovery period he is signed off work until 12th October 2016
He attended a recent meeting at the office, where the representatives from the company were supportive and even listed improvements they would make, as suggested by Occupational Health, upon his return. He left the meeting feeling well supported.
So imagine our surprise to get a letter a week later stating that he had been dismissed with a month's notice, the only reason mentioned in the letter was that although the surgery would improve his hearing he could not guarantee that it would alleviate symptoms of vertigo and nausea. He has an appeal meeting in ten days time and unfortunately is not a member of a trade union so will have to attend the meeting without support.

I just feel that his treatment is unfair and thought that he would have some protection under the Equality Act? We are not unhappy with not being paid since February as that is in his contract and entirely fair. But to dismiss him without carrying out any suggested alterations to his role does seem harsh.

I am sorry for the length of this post, any suggestions will be most welcome

Thank you very much

Teresa

DomRavioli

You need to seek professional legal advice from someone who specialises in the Equality Act. This is a public internet forum about moneysaving, it won't give you answers, just opinions (mostly from unqualified people).

The CAB may be able to help. Call them first thing Monday or go to the office, if you're struggling to afford legal representation.

Also, "reasonable adjustments" as they are called can be ignored - it is what is reasonable for an employer, not an employee.

Undervalued

DomRavioli wrote: »

You need to seek professional legal advice from someone who specialises in the Equality Act. This is a public internet forum about moneysaving, it won't give you answers, just opinions (mostly from unqualified people).

The CAB may be able to help. Call them first thing Monday or go to the office, if you're struggling to afford legal representation.

Also, "reasonable adjustments" as they are called can be ignored - it is what is reasonable for an employer, not an employee.

Assuming the OP's husband is disabled (for employment law purposes) then "reasonable adjustments" cannot just be ignored. That would be the case if he was simply sick (forgive the expression) and did not have a disability for these purposes.

That said, reasonable adjustments do not go anything like as far as many people fondly imagine. Generally more is expected of a large company than a small business. Ultimately only an employment tribunal can decide what is reasonable under the circumstances.

I agree the OP needs professional advice. If the CAB can refer them to a lawyer then fine but otherwise keep in mind that most CAB advisors are lay people with limited training. That too is sadly true of the the first levels at ACAS.

NeilCr

Some information here - with links to organisations who may be able to help

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/discrimination/protected-characteristics/disability-discrimination/

Might be worth a call to the ACAS helpline too

pupgrum

Pulling the disability card won't work. He's been out of work for seven months, looks like it's going to be at least eight months and even then he might not be able to work. The employer is right to dismiss him.

Undervalued

NeilCr wrote: »

Some information here - with links to organisations who may be able to help

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/discrimination/protected-characteristics/disability-discrimination/

Might be worth a call to the ACAS helpline too

As long as she double checks any "advice" for the reasons I stated in my previous post!

Undervalued

pupgrum wrote: »

Pulling the disability card won't work. He's been out of work for seven months, looks like it's going to be at least eight months and even then he might not be able to work. The employer is right to dismiss him.

Somewhat offensive expression under the circumstances don't you think?

sangie595

On the face of what you have said, there may be a case here. But there is obviously a lot unsaid! I would struggle to understand how feelings of vertigo or nausea are less able to be managed in a call centre than loss of hearing! Ok, vertigo, if it results in potentially putting himself or others at risk (but this is an office, not a building site!), possibly a stretch. But nausea? Some employers make me nauseous, but it doesn't stop me working!

Can you provide any further information on why these symptoms cannot be adjusted for? If not, then I would suggest that the immediate question is to ask the employer to justify their decision. Because how can you appeal a decision which cannot be understood?

The other route here is that this appears to not have been communicated to him as a meeting which could result in his dismissal. Otherwise I assume that he would not have been surprised? On that basis, the employer would be in breach of the law, since they are required to notify an employee that the outcome of a meeting may result in dismissal if that is the case.

sangie595

pupgrum wrote: »

Pulling the disability card won't work. He's been out of work for seven months, looks like it's going to be at least eight months and even then he might not be able to work. The employer is right to dismiss him.

They might have been. Had they followed the correct process in managing sickness absence. But there is no evidence that they did, and the employee does not appear to have been informed of the purpose of the meeting being for that reason. So you have no basis on which to say that the employer is "right".

Yorkie1

DomRavioli wrote: »

You need to seek professional legal advice from someone who specialises in the Equality Act. This is a public internet forum about moneysaving, it won't give you answers, just opinions (mostly from unqualified people).

The CAB may be able to help. Call them first thing Monday or go to the office, if you're struggling to afford legal representation.

Or check your household insurance policy to see if there's a legal helpline that covers employment matters.

DomRavioli

Undervalued wrote: »

Assuming the OP's husband is disabled (for employment law purposes) then "reasonable adjustments" cannot just be ignored. That would be the case if he was simply sick (forgive the expression) and did not have a disability for these purposes.

That said, reasonable adjustments do not go anything like as far as many people fondly imagine. Generally more is expected of a large company than a small business. Ultimately only an employment tribunal can decide what is reasonable under the circumstances.

I agree the OP needs professional advice. If the CAB can refer them to a lawyer then fine but otherwise keep in mind that most CAB advisors are lay people with limited training. That too is sadly true of the the first levels at ACAS.

Reasonable adjustments can be ignored if they put the business at detriment (and they can prove as such), which in a lot of cases, such as reduced hours or expensive equipment, they are provable. They are more guidelines, they are not legally binding and as such, they can be ignored but only on very specific grounds.

Also there's a lot of trainees at the CAB (those with an LLb, but completing their LPC, or those waiting to start with a firm on a training contract), and some fully trained who work pro bono, but these are rarer.