Bus driver loses licence due to health help

dawn_rose

Hiya my oh has lost his licence due to blackouts and heart problems, he drives buses. Will the company dismiss him or do they need to offer him alternative employment if possible? Thanks

NYM

Has he already asked his employer if they are able to offer an alternative role within the company?

Is it a permanent disability of if your husbands heart issue is dealt with/corrected, would he then be able to take up driving professionally again?

nickcc

dawn_rose wrote: »

Hiya my oh has lost his licence due to blackouts and heart problems, he drives buses. Will the company dismiss him or do they need to offer him alternative employment if possible? Thanks

Depends what his contract states. Having worked for a major bus company any Driver unable to drive for whatever reason had their contract terminated.

bugslet

Agree with Nick. He'll be dismissed.

If he's a popular employee with the company and if the company have a suitable vacancy, he may get offered something. THU, at our place (haulage), if one of the drivers couldn't work, I'd be unlikely to have another job available.

Bogalot

nickcc wrote: »

Depends what his contract states. Having worked for a major bus company any Driver unable to drive for whatever reason had their contract terminated.

bugslet wrote: »

Agree with Nick. He'll be dismissed.

If he's a popular employee with the company and if the company have a suitable vacancy, he may get offered something. THU, at our place (haulage), if one of the drivers couldn't work, I'd be unlikely to have another job available.

I suggest both of you read up on the Equality Act. If the OP has a qualifying condition (some are automatic) then the employer is obliged to consider reasonable adjustments. A dismissal without such consideration would leave the employer open to a discrimination case.

OP the first thing you need to do is speak to the employer. Also think about what other roles your partner may be suitable for.

paddedjohn

Ignore the lastost op, the company won't be in any trouble for dismissing him as there are no adjustments they can make. Without his licence he can't be a bus driver and no amount of afpdjustments will let him do his job.

sangie595

I'm sorry, but there is an awful lot of rubbish being talked here. Legally, the employer MUST consider any alternative employment that may be available. A heart condition is automatically covered by the Equality Act 2010. There may be no alternative employment available, but the employer certainly must consider ALL options before dismissing, not just whether adjustments to the existing role are possible - which, in the latter case, I agree there are not. But bus companies do not employ only drivers. There's are many other roles, and the employer must look at whether the individual can be offered another role before they can fairly dismiss

bugslet

Whilst reasonable adjustment is correct , my understanding is that means providing a different chair, maybe computer screen shields, any number of things. But if you drive for a living, and you lose your license, there is no reasonable adjustment I can think of. The OP was asking in effect, does the employer have to consider a desk job, that is something completely different to the employees skill set. Maybe the OP's OH would make an excellent maintenance manager, that's why I said they may consider a request.

PS, meant to say sorry about the news OP, it must be a terrible worry. Does the GP think that he will recover sufficiently? We had a van driver that incidentally held a HGV license that he no longer used, and after a suitable recovery time he came back to us as a van driver. As he didn't use the HGV entitlement, he never renewed it anyway. So a driving job of some sort is not out of the
Question. Good luck.

bugslet

Excluding the OPs OH, I have to say as much as I love my drivers, I can't imagine one of them in the office, most drivers drive to avoid the office environment!

sangie595

We cannot possibly know what the guys skill set is, or what other jobs may be available, if any. All I am saying is that it is incorrect to say that if he cannot drive, it is all over. And the reality is that if he cannot drive, he will have to work in another field. So if that other field happens to exist within the current employer, he at least deserves a chance to trial it before it is assumed he had nothing to offer the employer. Reasonable adjustments are not simply about changing the job a person has. They may be about the person taking on another role entirely. Only a stupid employer would move to dismiss without considering this.

ohreally

bugslet wrote: »

But if you drive for a living, and you lose your license, there is no reasonable adjustment I can think of.

Buyout the drivers (commercial) license from them.