Immunosuppressed people: what are employers' responsibilities?

[MamaChocoholic]

I am an academic, and have a new PhD student starting in September. She will be a full member of our lab for the next three years. She is immunosuppressed.

Our lab has a culture of presenteeism, enforced from on high. When people work from home because they are minorly unwell and don't want to infect other people, I end up in arguments with our departmental secretary who says if they are well enough to work from home, they are well enough to be in work, and if their infection is passed on, then we should all continue to come in.

She proposes this new student be placed in a large office of around 20 people. When I raised the issue of her immunosuppression, the secretary said that she didn't see it as a problem. I think we have some duty of care to the student and if it is possible to place her in a smaller office (it is), we should do so. I haven't broached this with the student yet, I want to get all the background info I can first. It is possible I am over reacting.

My question: are there any defined legal responsibilities that employers have towards immunocompromised staff?

You should make 'reasonable adjustments', but I think before getting into debates with the secretary, you should speak to the student to find out what adjustments she feels she may need. If you need back up, a letter from her gp or occupational health will help - it would be unwise for anyone to ignore reasonable medical advice.

With regards to working from home when ill, I'm on the fence. Whilst I understand that sometimes people are well enough to commute, but could do some work from home, you can easily fall into situations when the situation is abused and they aren't actually working, or doing minimal work. Productivity should remain the same.

If this has a significant, long term effect on her ability to carry out normal activities it classes as a disability. You therefore have to make reasonable adjustments to allow her to carry out her job. Employers also have a duty of care towards all employees which means they must do everything reasonable in the circumstances to keep individual employees safe from harm. Employees also have responsibilities for their own health and wellbeing at work.

In terms of the way forward I agree with the last poster that your first step should be to find out what adjustments the student feels she may need.

Employment law isn't that prescriptive that it gets involved in specifying what should be done for individual conditions.

But if this condition is a disability you need to make reasonable adjustments as previous posters have said, and moving to a smaller office may well be something that would help.

Also, regardless of whether this condition is a disability therefore requiring reasonable adjustment, it would seem sensible to take whatever steps you can to minimise the amount of time someone spends off sick...

Who does she report to, you or the secretary?

I take immunosuppressants for a chronic illness and therefore am immunosuppressed. I'm a primary school teacher surrounded by amazing germ carrying children day after day. It's my responsibility, not the head teachers or governors to ensure that I take all reasonable precautions eg using hand sanitiser often, washing my hands etc. In my opinion, duty of care is no different for an immuno suppressed person than for a 'normal' employee although I must say its very kind if you to be concerned.

Pretty much as 30ish said - I am immunosuppressed due to medication and have never felt my employer had any obligations. I also work close to a student population. I know that when, for example, swine flu was doing the rounds, the management was willing to make provisions for those most at risk - pregnant women etc. I would have spoken up and requested adjustments had I felt it was a high risk for me. But, otherwise, I just get on with it.

If the student is severely compromised, I expect it would be classed as a disability. Speak to her.

I agree you should speak to her to find out what she needs. The other thing you could do (perhaps after getting the student's permission to do so) is get in touch with your university's disability service to find out what their take on the issue is. I suspect they would be a useful ally in battling the secretary should that become necessary (which sounds crazy - without wanting to belittle the wonderful and hard work departmental secretaries do, surely this is not up to her?).

OK, it sounds like I may be over thinking this.

Thanks especially to those immunosuppressed posters reassuring me that they require no special treatment.

I will talk to the student and find out whether there is anything specific she needs before taking this any further.