Reasonable adjustments in a leased building.

Vapegirlclouds

Hi
I work in a union campus & my employers lease a floor.
Who is reasonable for reasonable adjustments, for example a lock on a door? The university & my employers are passing the buck to each other meanwhile I'm having awful issues.
Does the university as landlord have a duty to provide adjustments too?
Thanks.

lincroft1710

Your employer is responsible for providing reasonable adjustments. However there may be disagreement as to what is a "reasonable adjustment".

Vapegirlclouds

Said adjustment was recommended in a disability assessment. 
It is specific to one area but that area is run by the University not my employer.

Dakta

Adjustments are of course subject to what is considered reasonable, I would imagine any responsibility is your employer to you and anything from the Uni side is between your employer and the Uni. 

I presume you don't work for or having any agreements with the Uni directly, so i can't see how they can be responsible, even if the leasehold terms cause issues for how your employer makes the adjustments and carries out its duties (i.e making changes to the property). 

Undervalued

Vapegirlclouds said:

Hi
I work in a union campus & my employers lease a floor.
Who is reasonable for reasonable adjustments, for example a lock on a door? The university & my employers are passing the buck to each other meanwhile I'm having awful issues.
Does the university as landlord have a duty to provide adjustments too?
Thanks.

As others have said, your employer is required to make "reasonable adjustments" for any employee who has a disability (for employment law purposes). Arguing about what is reasonable has of course kept lawyers in fat fees for generations! They don't have to make adjustments for employees who are simply unwell or injured, unless they qualify as disabled.

It is not immediately obvious why "a lock on a door" would be a reasonable adjustment for a disability? I suppose moving it to a different height to make it easier for somebody in a wheelchair may well be?

Marcon

Undervalued said:

Vapegirlclouds said:

Hi
I work in a union campus & my employers lease a floor.
Who is reasonable for reasonable adjustments, for example a lock on a door? The university & my employers are passing the buck to each other meanwhile I'm having awful issues.
Does the university as landlord have a duty to provide adjustments too?
Thanks.

As others have said, your employer is required to make "reasonable adjustments" for any employee who has a disability (for employment law purposes). Arguing about what is reasonable has of course kept lawyers in fat fees for generations! They don't have to make adjustments for employees who are simply unwell or injured, unless they qualify as disabled.

It is not immediately obvious why "a lock on a door" would be a reasonable adjustment for a disability? I suppose moving it to a different height to make it easier for somebody in a wheelchair may well be?

A lock on a door has all sorts of knock on consequences, particularly if it belongs to the university's area rather than the employer's. Adding such a lock could impede a fire exit, for example; removing one could reduce security.

Landlords of residential properties certainly do have responsibilities, but this is a commercial lease and it's between OP's employer and the university, which tilts the picture. OP, have you talked to the CAB to see if they can suggest a way forward? Also if you're have 'awful problems' these are presumably impacting your ability to do your job, so talking again to your employer would seem to be logical. 

Brie

If it is a reasonable "reasonable adjustment" then your employer needs to supply it or face the consequences for not doing so.  If it means that you can't access the premises and they said they have to end your employment as a result that could be taken to an employment tribunal.

But it will be the university that needs to agree as well to work on the basis that they are the landlord.  And any university should be well aware of accessibility issues and that it is to their benefit to ensure accessibility is possible.  They actually benefit from this as they can insist that your employer pays for the adjustments being put in place.  So net result is that it's all down to your employer to sort it sooner rather than later. 

It might help if the Uni RA team is in on the discussion.

(ex reasonable adjustment officer for a very large UK company)