Regarding disabled parking

[appendix]

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?

@lentilandrice you make good points. The problem is she's not new to the organisation- she's been around for a long time. The blue badge is recent. For years people have watched her park her sports car in little spaces and have perfectly normal toilet habits so they aren't thinking this way which is wrong. We're a small company with no HR so we've managed by basically trying to be kind and do the best thing possible but I don't think that's enough.

Her disability getting worse may well have made her more anxious. However I'm loathe to ask Sue to share whenever she's going to the loo with a colleague- that feels uncomfortable to me. I'd hate to have to do that and I'm sure Sue would as well.

Someone upthread mentioned a disability assessment- I think that would be beneficial for both of them so we can understand how to support them and where it's going wrong.

You have no way of knowing whether that is true. Many people struggle a long time before they get a badge. For all you know, she wasn’t driving her car to busy places, maybe she always parked on the end of a row. You’ve got no idea. My father became very anxious by the time he got his blue badge and anxiety doesn’t disappear overnight, even when the problem is solved.

I mean, clearly it isn’t disabled friendly.

1. it doesn’t provide adequate facilities for the disabled staff members

2. the team seemingly as a whole has an ignorant and uninformed attitude towards disability

3. the management don’t have sufficient knowledge or experience to deal effectively with discriminatory staff or physical accessibility

I agree about Sue and I’m not suggesting you ask her to do that, I’m just saying that is what I would do. Can you really ask for a disability assessment? Is that legal?

I responded to another poster about the parking without reading your post. However, I still maintain that she could have been having difficulties before getting her badge. People often valiantly struggle along until things get really bad and you have no choice but to take her at her word, as it were.

I think really you need to tell the owner this is above your level to manage and she either steps in herself, or gets some HR support to sort it. I don't mean this as a slight OP, but you are obviously too closely involved and being (in part at least) swayed by your opinions of their characters. You need someone more objective who also knows the whys and wherfores of formal HR to avoid a lot of hassle all round!

I don’t know, I don’t know anything about her disability or the facilities in the other loo.

Maybe there is a step? Maybe she has a bag to empty? Maybe there is something to hold onto when standing, maybe not.

Its impossible to look at someone and how they behave in X space and at Y time, and extrapolate that to A space and B time.

I can go out independently some days, others I can’t feed myself. I used to be an athlete, now I’m a wheelchair user. I can’t manoeuvre myself without my chair in my own bathroom- I can’t at the pub etc.

You wouldn’t know any of it by looking at me.

As for the parking, Lynda may have good reasons for using that space. People calling her a bitch and spiteful really have no idea how different disabilities may play out. She could have an anxiety around parking, for example, or any other reason.

Loads and loads of people - whether disabled or not - have anxiety about parking. You don't get given a special massive space just because of that; you either have to find a way to cope with it or otherwise accept that driving is not for you.

Even if that is the case, she could still maybe seek therapy, counselling or other professional assistance to help her overcome her parking-specific anxiety. Sue can hardly get therapy to make her legs magically work again, can she?

This exactly.

She’s got a disability and a blue badge so she does get to park in a massive space whether you like it or not.

I’d be inclined to move to photocopier and the coffee machine to the other side of the loos. If Sue heads in that direction multiple times a day, and Lynda dives into the loos every time she sees Sue coming, then either Lynda will reconsider if she really needs to go that often, or Sue can time her own visits to 15 minutes after she’s got herself a latte!

She's not being excluded because she's disabled. She's being excluded because she's going out of her way to make another disabled person's day shit. Being disabled isn't a get out of jail free card for when you're being a dick.

In any case, I was using that as an example not as fact so you can get off your high horse.

just because somebody else seems to want to validate herself as disabled and take any benefits on offer because of it, whether she needs them or not, @SirAlfredSpatchcock
So you're saying Lynda is lying about being disabled and fraudulently claimed a blue badge?

I was responding to someone who thought she might have urgency. Making the non-disabled loo more accessible might help, at least in the short term.

I think this company needs specialist HR help ASAP.

Put a signing in log at the main door for fire safety. You need to know who is in the building in case of emergency.

@appendix look just tell Lynda how much you and everyone in your kind and inclusive workplace despise her and talk about her.
Hopefully she'll then leave and you can continue patting yourselves on the back on what fabulous people you are.

If lynda ever reads this thread you are sacked big style OP and I think you would deserve it too.

Get professional HR advice! I can recommend https://face2facehr.com/. You can either get someone on a monthly retainer or as a one off. It’s been massively helpful for my small business.

From some of OP's comments, there's obviously a lot more to Lynda and Sue's relationship than a parking space and toilets. They aren't really the core issue here by the sound of it.
Lynda does sound like a piece of work who is using her disability to get at Sue for some reason, and that's what needs looking into before either decide to start formally complaining. Also, does Lynda have something going on in her private life which is leading her to sneak in late and leave early ?
Someone needs to sit down with Lynda and ask her what her issue is fairly soon (but probably more sensitively than "OK Lynda, what's your issue ???)
We are a small company with no HR, we use ACAS for anything tricky and HR related. Might be worth giving them a call.

Could you reorganise the office do that Sue sits near the toilet and Lynda is furthest away? That would stop her getting in there first - unless she starts sprinting, in which case an anonymous phone call to DWP might be in order.

Your update regarding the toilet situation has cemented my thoughts that the person being bullied here is Sue.

Yes, both BB holders have the right to use whichever disabled bay they choose however (and in the absence of any medical justification from Lynda) it would be an entirely reasonable adjustment for the company to allow Sue to use the larger bay. Without this larger bay (which allows her to be independent in the workplace) she is being regularly humiliated by having to ask for colleagues to assist her.

I'd also suggest that you consider looking at your Risk Assessments both for the car park (you know now you have a reasonably foreseeable risk of people having to drive cars they are not insured on), your lone worker policies (if Lynda is coming in at 0700, how do you ensure her safety?).

Lynda's working hours need to be dealt with entirely separately and through your capability management process.

Right, but she is entitled to use the space because she may well have just as much physical need for the space as Sue. The op isn’t her manager, so she doesn’t know what her needs are.

If we are going to invent scenarios based on facts we don’t have we could just as well invent one where

Sue always arrives late, after Lynda but expects ‘her’ space left for her despite the risk and pain caused to Lynda by having to move in a smaller space.

Then later when Lynda stands up to go to the loo Sue follows her and makes a big show of huffing and puffing outside the loo because Lynda didn’t let her go first.

Then when Lynda says “my pain and disability are as valid as yours, and I’m always at work and needing a space early while you turn up late. And you keep following me to the toilet and ear wigging outside the door destroying my privacy”

Sue goes and cries to the team about how terrible it is for her, how Lynda is a bitch and is victimising her, and says “let’s all say we are going for a coffee but she can’t come hehehe”.

Ffs now posters assume they know the workings of lynda’s bodily functions too which may or may not require more urgent/ longer loo time than others including sue.
The threat of a a dwp report is beyond bloody belief.
When will ableist ignorant fuckers understand that you cannot determine someone’s disability by looking at them and nor should you be arrogant enough to try.
This whole thread is like the deserving and undeserving poor concept from victorian times.

You need to read the OP's updates.

Lynda admits that she deliberately blocks Sue from using the toilet.

What I'm taking away from this is that it's well above my pay grade and I'm not doing a good job. I feared as much honestly.

To the people saying I obviously hate Lynda, I really don't! Until all this id have said that Lynda was one of the more popular member of staff. Sue is quite abrasive and opinionated. In a nice liberal company she's the lone Daily Mail reader and she thinks it's gone a bit woke. Lynda dislikes her for a lot of comments over the years but this behaviour is very odd and out of character.