News
5 January 2012
Employment Law - Disability and the cost of reasonable adjustments
How far do you have to go when considering reasonable adjustments for disabled employees? There is no prescribed financial limit on the cost of any reasonable adjustment but a recent case has provided some guidance.
In Cordell v The Foreign & Commonwealth Office the employee was a senior diplomat and profoundly deaf. When, she was posted abroad and required to react quickly to political events, she was provided with full time lip-speaker support. The annual cost of this support was £146,000.
The Foreign Office introduced a new reasonable adjustment policy capping adjustments to £10,000 and requiring anything above this to be subject to a specific procedure for addressing reasonableness.
The diplomat was offered a promotion, but the projected costs were assessed at £249,500. Consequently, the Foreign Office withdrew the offer on the basis that these costs were unreasonable and the diplomat challenged this decision.
The Employment Tribunal decided that the Foreign Office’s decision was reasonable. There had been no direct discrimination, as withdrawal of the offer was not due to the employee’s disability. Ultimately, the court decided that the foreign office was reasonable in not spending that amount of money.
It can be difficult to balance the needs of a disabled employee and the financial interests of the employer. It will be a matter of judgement for each tribunal to determine on the facts of each case. It is not an objective test and tribunals must decide what is “right and just” in each case.
For more information call Nick Phillips on 01782 205000 or email nick.phillips@beswicks.com
The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.
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