Hired a disabled woman in lockdown who I now have to fire

[Whatnextteletext]

During the first lockdown I hired a physically disabled woman into an entry level role on my team. She’s in her mid 30’s but it’s her first job because pre-pandemic, she couldn’t work out of the home due to her disability and work from home opportunities were few and far between. She is a wheelchair user who lives with a full time carer who takes care of he personal needs (this is relevant to why she couldn’t work out of home) and prior to lockdown, she lived on her disability payments alone which from the sound of it was very hard going.

I hired her into an entry level web development role with on the job training and it turns out she’s wicked smart and a phenomenally fast learner. I’ve put her through some web development training and within 18 months she’s now a pretty decent developer and by far the most competent of the cohort I hired along side her. She’s also lovely and we get on really well.

Anyway, when I hired her, my company were committed to WFH and hybrid working long term. Now however, they’ve backtracked and everyone is back in the office 3 days a week mandated.

Today I had an email from the senior team asking why this employee hadn’t been back to the office so I explained that she’ll be working from home forever given the circumstances (that they’re very aware of!) and the reply I got was that she’s no longer suitable for the role now that the expectation is work from the office and I needed to let her go.

I hit the roof and went straight to HR who are looking into this now, but I’d like to know from here what is likely to happen??

If they come back and say she’s got to go and I have to fire her I’m handing my notice in on the spot, that’s a given. How likely is that though? Surely it’s discrimination?

It’s also really stupid. It costs a fortune to train new developers properly and I’ve invested a huge amount of my time into her. It’s a complete candidates market at the moment too - developer roles are everywhere, it’s really hard to find ones with the right training and she’s good enough that with a bit of off the record support she could freelance fairly easily.

Her contract doesn’t specify a place of work or working model and there is no reason on earth she couldn’t perform the role perfectly adequately from home. We all did for 2 years.

Does anyone know where we stand legally on this one? She’ll have 2 years service in June.

It's used similarly in my work - basically indefinite but with a change possible if circumstances changed substantially but with no particular expectation they will.

I would definitely have heard permanent if someone said long term - it just wouldn't occur to me it meant anything else.

This is disability discrimination under the equality act. The employee can sue the company. Make sure you make the company and the employee know about it.
Employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers. She will win.

Maybe read the entire thread or at least the OP comments before posting.

You've won a great battle but the war is still on

It is rubbish that HR didn't have your back or your employees and it was down to you and Mumsnet to push hard with the Equality Act and reasonable adjustments.
Your HR team seem like they'd have let this happen had you not fought.
They need to be part of the SLT because right now they come across as mediators.

Your employee is lucky to have you as their manager, you're clearly a decent, competent person who knows right from wrong...but what about the other managers? Are their team members as protected?
Managers need diversity and inclusion training. It doesn't just protect employee rights but also saves the company legal and reputational damages.

If the company isn't willing to take ongoing action to learn and grow, someone else will be fighting this soon