CEV employees, Covid and Disability Act

[treeflowercat]

I've read a number of stories about managers seeking to require those who are CEV to stop working from home even though they have been doing so adequately so far. As a manager myself, I can't imagine being so cruel and uncaring to do this, but it seems some people are...

It got me thinking whether those employees may have recourse under the Disability Act and whether continued "working from home" could be considered a reasonable adjustment.

Any thoughts welcome...

It's time to get back to normal life .... Anyone who was able to go to work pre Covid should be back at work whatever way their employer deems necessary.

Anyone who is CEV and managed risks in the office pre covid just has to do the same as they were doing before.

Vaccination rates are high and we have a mild strain with Omicron , hospital rates are in decline etc. It's time to get back to normal.

[quote MaybeHeIsMyCat]I saw this earlier and saved it

https://inews.co.uk/news/covid-rules-clinically-extremely-vulnerable-people-advised-to-follow-guidance-after-plan-b-ends-1416356?fbclid=IwAR0XBDwA17nO4Le7aVIuftjbqnWRrFVReymXLN11PYTi87tjdkd-lVVZ5-w[/quote]
Thank you for sharing this, @MaybeHeIsMyCat

It's very difficult isn't it, my CEV husband is a consultant on the front line. He's not had a single day of working from home and has been patient facing throughout.

@lunar1

It's very difficult isn't it, my CEV husband is a consultant on the front line. He's not had a single day of working from home and has been patient facing throughout.

Yet we have others expecting the whole world to stop & shut down for them!!

How did he manage over the last two years... Did he catch Covid / other illnesses etc?
I've a friend who is extremely CEV and she had a good two years of her health improving due to all the mitigations etc. But she's very aware that this can't continue and normality has to resume and she'll go back to managing her own risks rather than the whole world making huge sacrifices to protect her

@Alliswells are you CEV?

@Alliswells, neither of us have had covid, but our children have.

I think it's the all or nothing approach that's problematic. He can't socially distance from patients due to his speciality, but takes every reasonable precaution including mask wearing and ventilation where possible.

I don't see why we can't have everything open with some real investment from the government and private business on ventilation and air filtration.

Masks in an enclosed environment are fine for the majority of people. If they remove the requirements for mask wearing in clinical settings he will hand in his notice and leave the NHS for the private sector where he can dictate his terms, and double his income.

I think It’s going to be difficult for employers to refuse a reasonable adjustment long term if an employee has successfully worked from home during the pandemic without detriment to the business. They will need to be able to satisfy one of the eight reasons for declining a formal request: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/flexible-working/flexible-working-your-employer-refuses-your-request/