Employer accepts I'm disabled, then refutes at tribunal

moidoid

Hi all - wonder if anyone can help with this bit of employment law.

I found out that I had a neurodevelopmental disorder and needed adjustments at work. I got an assessment from Access to Work which said I did too and my manager accepted this and agreed to put them in place. He never did and things went wrong at work because I didn't have the support he'd agreed. So I've taken them to an Employment Tribunal. Thing is, their lawyers are saying that they don't accept I have a disability - I'm sure I can prove I have but it seems odd if their employees have already accepted that they have responsibilities towards me as a disabled person under the Equality Act.

Anyone have any knowledge in the area?

oh_really

It will fall to you to prove your argument regardless of what you claim was said.
Do you have any sort of paper trial from them confirming?

Also the employer does not accept your position regardless of what one of their employees may have said,

thebrexitunicorn

It’s not unusual in disability discrimination claims for the respondent, at least initially, to refuse to concede disability.  Sometimes once evidence has been produced the respondent does concede.  Whereas on other occasions it falls to the tribunal to determine whether the claimant has a disability under the equality act.  

If you had any occupational health reports carried out these may include an opinion on disability status. 

bartelbe

Paper is king in these situations, never accept anything verbally at work.

TELLIT01

An informal agreement by a manager that there is a health issue doesn't put the OP in a particularly strong position.  An occupational health assessment should have been undertaken to confirm the issue and any recommended adjustments.

moidoid

I do have other paper evidence - they knew about the disorder and how it affected my work from info and assessments I sent. It is a very big employer and it was not just one manager who agreed to the reasonable adjustments - they did not question their duty to make adjustments for 2 years - including during a day-long capability hearing. I think that the ET will not be overly impressed by a large employer trying to say I don't have a disability when a number of senior managers had accepted this was the case for so long. I think that the employer will be trying any argument they can to see if anything sticks.

elsien

How did your Access to Work process happen? Because the guidance says you should talk to your employer about reasonable adjustments before you apply to access to work - is that recorded and how did your employer identify the adjustments needed? Was there an occupational health referral?

Marcon

moidoid said:

I do have other paper evidence - they knew about the disorder and how it affected my work from info and assessments I sent. It is a very big employer and it was not just one manager who agreed to the reasonable adjustments - they did not question their duty to make adjustments for 2 years - including during a day-long capability hearing. I think that the ET will not be overly impressed by a large employer trying to say I don't have a disability when a number of senior managers had accepted this was the case for so long. I think that the employer will be trying any argument they can to see if anything sticks.

An ET might not be impressed by an employee who didn't push for the necessary adjustments for two years. Do you have a paper trail showing that you did just that?

Undervalued

moidoid said:

I do have other paper evidence - they knew about the disorder and how it affected my work from info and assessments I sent. It is a very big employer and it was not just one manager who agreed to the reasonable adjustments - they did not question their duty to make adjustments for 2 years - including during a day-long capability hearing. I think that the ET will not be overly impressed by a large employer trying to say I don't have a disability when a number of senior managers had accepted this was the case for so long. I think that the employer will be trying any argument they can to see if anything sticks.

I think you are misunderstanding.

Ultimately it comes down to whether (if necessary in a tribunal's judgement) you have a disability and, if so, whether the adjustments you are requesting are reasonable. The fact that a manager (who was presumably not medically or legally qualified) initially agreed that you did does not mean that it is so. His opinion does not bind them for ever.

They may be able to argue that having investigated the matter further, they no longer agree that you are disabled (for employment law purposes) and / or that the adjustments needed are not reasonable. It would then be for the tribunal to decide who is right and who is wrong.

moidoid

Marcon said:

An ET might not be impressed by an employee who didn't push for the necessary adjustments for two years. Do you have a paper trail showing that you did just that?

They failed to make adjustments for 5 months and I was pushing for them in that time. It has been 18 months since then.

moidoid

elsien said:

How did your Access to Work process happen? Because the guidance says you should talk to your employer about reasonable adjustments before you apply to access to work - is that recorded and how did your employer identify the adjustments needed? Was there an occupational health referral?

We agreed that I should apply to help identify adjustments. He had suggested some adjustments but they didn't help or were counter-productive. Access to Work also advised an OH referral but that never happened.