Regarding disabled parking

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I work for a small company. We have office space in a small building which houses a number of other companies. There is just about enough adequate parking for all employees in terms of number of spaces.
Here is where I think I've messed up. I'm operations manager. The company is too small to have HR (we outsource things like payroll) so often HR adjacent queries end up with me.

We have 2 disabled employees. One (Sue) has significantly mobility limitations and uses a big motorised wheelchair. The other (Lynda) has less significant mobility issues (ie doesn't need a wheelchair, can walk small distances.) Both are have blue badges.

There are 3 disabled spaces in the carpark. One can be discounted as it's always in use by an employee of another company in the building who starts work very early. Out of the remaining 2 only one is big enough to accommodate Sue's needs (electric ramp for a big wheelchair etc). The issue we have is that Lynda insists on parking in it. She gets to work earlier than Sue who has childcare limitations and always parks there. It's causing a lot of frustration and ill will, especially as the other non wheelchair sized space is actually closer to the entrance, so it seems a perverse choice.

There has been a lot of grumbling among staff about this. It was especially bad a few days ago when Sue had to call for assistance - she had to get out of her car at the entrance and a colleague had to park her vehicle for her. Lynda sits watching this. Other staff members have spoken to her and asked if she could park in the other, closer space but she refuses.

Note- Sue and Lynda have clashed a bit over the years- there's only one disabled loo on our floor and yet they seem to always need it at the same time etc. I've been reliably informed that Lynda won't park close to the entrance because then her start and leave times will be visible to everyone- the other larger space is around a bend and can be accessed via a side door so her in and outs are not visible.

Anyway, we have spoken multiple times to the people who own the offices. They give no shits. The car park is apparently compliant in terms of spaces and they're not prepared to do anything more.

Our company owner has now said that whichever employee gets in first needs to park next to her reserved space and let reception know. When Sue arrives the person in the space next to the reserved one nips out, moves their car and Sue parks across both spaces. Owner then just parks where she can find a space.

It's not ideal especially in the rain. It's caused massive ill will towards Lynda who has just come to me and said she feels she's being bullied due to her disability. (She's not being included in lunch orders or social stuff organised by staff themselves, although she is fully included in terms of her job.) Honestly the company owner doesn't feel particularly warm towards her.

I'm not a HR person. I felt that as she wasn't being excluded in terms of work etc there's not a lot I can do about people liking her and I pretty much told her that. I was talking to a friend about it though and they said we could actually be in trouble for not including her in lunches/ social things, especially as it's because of issues caused by a disability. (She's invited to all work organised events, just not informal staff drinks / lunches/ chats/ coffee rounds organised by the staff)

I'm going to suggest getting some HR advice but was I wrong?

Lynda or Sue…

because Lynda was well liked and is always there on time until she became disabled now she’s basically being bullied out of work…

or Sue who turns up later and seems to sharing every little detail Lynda does to the entire team to segregate her…

or the op, who posts what could be such an identifying job situation with car park layout that will of if they do get rid of Lynda without actual genuine reason show they have not actually acted legally or fairly…

You've done the right thing.

The only thing i would add is on the delivery exit you said you badge it and out.
Most of them have different permissions ie. You can set it so front reception can access it but general staff cant.
You should check this option out it will improve security and make the side space less attractive

Lynda sounds quite vindictive and like a bit of a slacker. She also sounds very much like a "this is the reason we cant have nice things" person.

That's the problem with having nice management policies. There is always some fucker able bodied or otherwise who wants to abuse it

Linda has a blue badge so does need a disabled parking spot

Absolutely. But she is deliberately choosing the one that will also facilitate a need that she doesn't have, when she knows that one of her disabled colleagues does have that extra need.

It's similar to if you go alone into a busy cafe, right in front of a family of four, and there's a table for two left and a table for four, and no others. Both equivalent in 'desirability' - the only difference is in the size and number of chairs.

If you're a selfish and/or vindictive person, you may well grab the table for four and leave the other family with nothing suitable for their needs, just because you can; but the vast majority of decent people would figure that they are not missing out in any way by taking the smaller table that is still fully suitable for their needs, so why wouldn't you choose for everybody to have what they need rather than deny the others for no apparent purpose at all?

Absolutely. But she is deliberately choosing the one that will also facilitate a need that she doesn't have, when she knows that one of her disabled colleagues does have that extra need.

Unless you are she, you have no idea what Lynda’s needs are. A wheelchair isn’t the only reason for needing that space.

Because we don't KNOW what Lynda needs

In your example of the cafe - the family of four are the colleagues making judgements and Lynda is the one person going into the cafe. What if you are meeting 3 friends who are running late? You would appear selfish to the family because your need is unknown to them but you aren't doing anything selfish.

There's been no mention of Sue ever saying anything to anyone about what Lynda is doing. Other staff have observed Lynda rushing into the loo as soon as Sue makes a move towards it, and they see Sue them having to wait outside for ages. Other staff are also having to get involved helping Sue park because the one space she could use independently has been taken by Lynda. People are seeing Lynda's behaviour for themselves and basing their opinions on their own observations.

Surely if Lynda has additional needs which haven't been communicated, the time to clarify these was when she was asked why she's using the only space that caters for Sue's needs.

That depends on who has asked her. HR or her manager? Or random people on the team who have taken it upon themselves to be pity champions?

There's no point fighting out Sue vs Lynda here or anywhere, is there? They both need an arms-length disability needs assessment (assessor shares info with employer and employee separately). Then hopefully it will be sorted and neither we nor Lynda's judgmental colleagues will ever find out Who Was Really To Blame.

She doesn't need to disclose her medical history to random colleagues who are bullying her

Which is why a proper disability access assessment needed to be conducted

There is no point fighting it out in the sense you mean, obviously.

There is a point in challenging ableism.

That's not how redundancy works

But well done for suggesting the disabled woman gets made redundant because she needs to park in a disabled space and use the disabled toilet

Heck why not make Sue redundant too, much easier than having to deal with pest disabled people

OP have either of the 2 ladies raised a Grievance at any stage? I imagine one will come sooner rather than later

Get your boss to join the federation of small business- its about £150 for the year. Includes hr advice as well as tax investigations allowance

You're saying Lynda is not using a wheelchair and can use a regular loo if the other one is occupied? Then I think she should be asked insistently to explain her behaviour to you or to your employer so you can take acceptable measures.

Tell them both this is a big deal (it is) and that you are consulting professional HR people for a definitive solution. Get OH advice. Take the bullying out of their hands and place the decision where it belongs.

If I were you I’d get this thread deleted. What you’ve talked about and your parking diagram seems very specific. One of them could easily complain if they saw their situation on here, not to mention it being picked up by the daily fail.

'I'm starting to wonder if this one individual is really worth all the agro she brings to the table. Any way of unfortunately having to let her go?'

'This. I'd look into making her redundant.'

Fgs why do you want to advise the OP to pour petrol on the fire? Her employer could already be facing a grievance or discrimination case; and you propose inflicting a spurious redundancy on a disabled employee?

You can't make people redundant, only jobs (& by extension the job holder). If they were to make their disabled employee 'redundant' then engage someone new - as the role is still required - they would be facing a tribunal claim which they would lose.

'You're saying Lynda is not using a wheelchair and can use a regular loo if the other one is occupied? Then I think she should be asked insistently to explain her behaviour to you or to your employer so you can take acceptable measures.'

You advocate cross questioning a disabled employee about her toileting behaviour? I can see that going well.....not.

In case the OP is still reading this I do hope that she is able to discern the good advice from the several posters who know what they are talking about.

🙄

It isn't up to the op to decide what the needs of a disabled employee are.

Indeed @Flopsythebunny , not up to the OP to decide. But where I live (Belgium) you need a medical report to acquire things like a special parking badge, the use of a ramp on public domain, free and immediate acces to toilets for disabled persons etc. etc. That's why I propose to ask Lynda to prove her rights by showing a medical certificate 🤷🏼‍♀️ And before you ask : yes, that certificate can be drafted without mentioning the exact condition. The doctor would then state "hereby I declare that my patient X is not in the possibility to use a regular bathroom so should have always and everywhere have immediate acces to the accessible toilet".

The company, the op and the disabled employees aren’t in Belgium, so how things work there is irrelevant.

Lynda has a BB- therefore she is legally entitled to park where she is parking.

Accessible toilets are not monitored in any way- anyone can use them if they believe they need to. It’s a system run entirely on the basis that able bodied people don’t take the piss.

Lynda only needs to make her manager, HR or Occupational Health aware of her needs- and only if they are doing an official needs assessment.

She does not have to discuss her parking or toileting arrangements with anyone.

Here you need to provide evidence of impairment to get a blue badge. This means Lynda has already proved that she needs a disabled parking bay. Here accessible toilets are designed to enable people with additional needs to be able to use the toilet, but they can actually be used by anyone. There is no need to be certified "disabled" to use them. We do have locked toilets in some areas where people need to prove they need to be able to access them to be given a key. But that is irrelevant in this situation because the toilet in question is just a standard accessible toilet. Had it been a locked toilet, Lynda would qualify for a key for the same reason she qualifies for a blue badge.

Linda has a blue badge, she thankfully doesn't need to "prove" her disability to someone demanding "insistently" to know why she is using the disabled toilet

If the OP did that she would be making a bad situation significantly worse. Why on earth give advice about a country whose employment laws you clearly know nothing about?

Note to self: don't move to Belgium they apparent need a certificate for you to use an appropriate toilet there if you are disabled 🤦‍♀️ Explains why the unemployment rate for disabled people in Belgium is over 3 times higher than in the UK.

Here you need to provide evidence of impairment to get a blue badge

You do in the UK as well, they definitely don't just give them away.