Background

The Equality Act 2010 imposes a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments where a practice, criterion or provision places a disabled worker at a disadvantage because of their disability.

The employer must take reasonable steps to avoid the disadvantage and what is reasonable depends on: 

• whether the adjustment would have reduced the disabled person’s disadvantage
• the cost of the adjustment in the light of the employer’s financial resources 
• the disruption that the adjustment would have had on the employer’s activities.

Tribunal findings

In a recent tribunal case, the employee argued that he should not have to attend the selection for retention interview, but instead the employer should have made an adjustment to the process and prioritised him over the other 13 employees at risk of redundancy by slotting him into the new role. He believed the interview process placed him at a disadvantage and brought a claim against his employer for failing to make a reasonable adjustment. 

The findings of the case stress two points: First that to be required as reasonable, an adjustment has to remove the disadvantage to the disabled employee. Secondly it will not be classed as a reasonable adjustment if it goes further than removing the disadvantage by conferring an extra advantage on the disabled employee compared to others.

Read RSM’s analysis of the judgement here.