Equality Act

[missingmumxox]

today, I realised that this Act leaves employers wide open, and me in OH in the middle ground, I would like to ask what you take on it was? I have all this week been doing Pre employment medical before I realised the implications of the Act,

but fortunatly I am of the opinon no one fails a medical, there are only adaptions. the employer decides if they can accommodate them, to date 10years down the line it is rare they can't.
but on getting to grips with the equality act today with the clinical director, I throw him a curve ball, which I have been brewing on since I read the Act in 2010.

he agreed, period pains are a chronic illness, with no convienient end date or prognosis, so i am booking my 2 days a month from now on
but on a serious note for employers anything that is on going is covered by the EA, even normal periods

Are you suggesting normal period pain (ie not endometriosis or similar) might be considered a disability under the EA? Because if you are it does not meet the criteria because it is not a significant mental or physical impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse effect on the ability to perform normal day-to-day activities. Chronic illness is not automatically a disability.

If you are suggesting it falls under sex discrimination because it can only happen to women I think you are wrong here too. Normal period pains do not prevent people doing their job. If it's abnormal pain that interferes with the ability to do the job then it's dealt with as a medical issue because it is not a normal characteristic of being a woman (ie you wouldn't expect most or all women to suffer in this way).

I suppose this is why occupational health are there to look at the medical side and employment law specialists are there to worry about the law? Both equally important but quite specialised and neither qualified to do the job of the other so have to work together.