Redeployment due to disability

[Isleepinahedgefund]

Can anyone help with this please.

If an employer cannot meet a reasonable adjustment for business reasons, is the employer legally obliged to find the employee another role within the business?

The employer has worked there for a number of years and became disabled during the course of employment.

Basically the employee can no longer work FT and needs PT hours as advised by occ health and specialists. Current role cannot be done in the requested 40% FTE hours and isn't suitable for a job share.

There is a possibility that there is another role that could accommodate this, but it would have to be created for them.

Who are you in this scenario OP?

I’ve been coaching the employee since their return to work, they aren’t in a union so I’ve been supporting by acting as hand holder/silent moral support at various meetings, to be crystal clear I haven’t been advising them as I am well aware I do not have the expertise at all. - I’m more of the. nodding and listening kind of support.

Employee seem to have the impression from somewhere that the employer is legally obliged to redeploy them to a suitable role.

When they first returned on reduced hours it was with the agreement/understanding that they would increase back to FT, however all parties now agree that isn’t possible.

Before dismissing for capability reasons, employer would be expected to explore all alternatives, including reasonable adjustments to current role, and also whether there is a role they could be redeployed to.

‘Exploring the possibility of redeployment’ doesn’t mean ‘create a job out of thin air’. If there is a vacant role available which would be suitable, and your friend isn’t at least given the option of a trial, and the employer dismissed him/her, then the employer could be vulnerable to an unfair dismissal claim.

But if there isn’t a suitable role available, they are not expected to just create one in order to keep the employee in a job. The key is reasonable adjustments. It wouldn’t be reasonable to expect an employer to invent jobs.

The disabled employee is wrong.
The employer has to make reasonable adjustments, they don’t have to “create” a role that does not exist and they have no need for.
Has the employee involved Access to Work?

Thank you both.

They haven't been to Access to Work. Should I suggest it? I thought they provided money towards specialist equipment or the like. I'm not sure that will help them do more hours, although that's not my judgement to make of course.