Employers – your responsibilities

Employing a disabled person makes good business sense. According to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) it is unlawful for any employer of any size to discriminate against a disabled person in terms of:

• not offering employment because someone is disabled
• the terms on which you employ them
• by not making ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable someone to carry out their job
• in the opportunities for promotion, transfer or training
• less favourable treatment or dismissal because of their disability.

Reasonable adjustments

Employers have a duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to jobs and premises to accommodate disabled employees if these place disabled people at a substantial disadvantage.

Most of these changes should be relatively easy to implement and should not be costly. Support may be available from the Government’s Access to Work scheme but most adjustments should not be costly.

The types of adjustments an employer might be required to make include:

• making sure premises are accessible
• offering time off for rehabilitation, assessment or treatment
• flexible working – to avoid the rush hour – or home working
• provision of special equipment to enable the person to do their job effectively.

Working together

Some employers worry because they don’t understand arthritis. They think that it might get in the way of getting the job done or might break health and safety legislation. In addition, some disabled people fear they may be excluded from work opportunities.

By working together, employers and disabled workers can address any issues related to arthritis. This works best when the employer involves the employee and thinks about their individual circumstances. This helps to avoid:

• making assumptions about disabled people which can lead to poor practice or discrimination
• people hiding an impairment, which may lead to poor performance and sickness absence.

The recommended course of action for employers is to have regular contact with your employee, and review what will help them do their job. An employer may want to involve occupational health providers. Continued communication is important during any arthritis-related time off work, so that the employer and employee can plan a return to work.

Find out more on what you can do as an employer from Health Work Wellbeing – a Government initiative that brings together individuals, employers and health professionals to help more people stay in employment.

Confidentiality and disclosure

The Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 places duties on employers to ensure confidential and appropriate handling of ‘sensitive personal data’, which includes data about a person’s health.

The DPA also gives individuals the right to see personal data and information held or processed about them, provided they request it in writing. This might include personal information relating to sickness absence or a risk assessment.

If an employer and employee agree to inform other people about a disability (which may be a ‘hidden’ disability) the employee should sign a consent form giving you permission to tell one or more named individual(s).