Reduce my pay because of working from home?

[Psm92]

Long story short, a few months ago I was diagnosed with a disability that causes a lot of fatigue, pain, etc. As such I have been wfh for the past few months. Other colleagues work from home 3 days a week, and attend the office twice a week. As my wfh is due to a health condition/disability, I would have thought this is a reasonable adjustment to enable me to let me do my job. I live in London.

My workplace is now saying they will have to reduce my salary because as my "principal workplace" is now the office, I do not qualify for the London weighting. Feeling really upset by this. Any advice?

@Luredbyapomegranate - you'll find that most unions won't get involved in pre-exiting issues as they don't want people only joining for help and then leaving...

OP - you need to review your contract. If the contract says you need to work in the office then x amount of days to qualify then you lose the money if you don't. It's not discriminating against you as a result of your disability. If OH said that you could only work 4 hours a day, would you actually still expect to be paid your full salary?

I sympathise with you for having a disability and being in pain but you do sound entitled. Companies are expected to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate a disability but not to the detriment of others. You are asking for preferential treatment (you to carry on getting the allowance when someone without a disability would lose it) which is not on.

London weighting is for additional costs of living in London because you are working in London office though. If you’re entirely working from home you can’t expect to get paid London weighting.

The OP has missed an important point

There will be other employees already working from home because they're disabled or carers and they won't be getting this additional amount because they did this before covid. I'm CS so will tell you this is happens. So if she gets it/keeps it.. then they're being discriminated against.
You also don't get LW if you live in Southeast which is currently pretty much on a par with London. In fact all the London people are now moving out because they don't need to be in Central London to work as hybrid. This is driving houses prices up to crazy levels. And local people can't afford homes.
I'm very understanding of disability. But it doesn't always trump other needs/circumstances.

Hi Op

If you are a disabled person, your employer is not allowed to treat you less favourably than a non disabled employee for a reason arising from your disability, unless it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

If your inability to work in the office is because of your disability, the decision to take away the allowance may therefore be seen as arising from your disability.

The question then is whether this decision to take away the allowance is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

If its London weighting and you still live in London, with its high rents etc, then it may arguable that removing the allowance from you is not proportionate. How much would your travel costs have been vs the amount of money you will lose? What are your increased home working costs? Working this out may help assess the proportionality of their actions.

Yes. Public transport outside London is much more expensive. Greater Manchester is trying to reintroduce a subsidised scheme at the moment to mirror London because the current system is so expensive. Its even more expensive in provincial towns. Its been a bug political issue for a number of years for those paying attention / outside the capital.

And not only are services outside London more expensive, they are also significantly less reliable and more restricted in terms of the hours they run.

As in there's plenty of reasonably big places where there's no public service at all after 7pm.

They are employed under the contract at the time of their employment. They aren't getting a change to their terms and conditions.

As for the guff about the OP no longer having to live in London...

...maybe someone should be arguing that the company should therefore be paying for relocation costs so that the OP doesn't need their salary adjusting for their London location. Which their employer knew at the time the OP was given a contract...

I think the lower salary is fair actually. I have MS (so am disabled too) and if I chose to WFH full time I would expect to lose the London weighting as I wouldn't need it for commuting costs.

Sorry OP.

PPs have said the weighting is for HAVING to live in commutable distance to the office London and your office being in London. If you're WFH you don't have to live in London therefore no weighting.

I'm not convinced that expecting the OP to move away from her family, friends, home and life in order to be able to be able to afford her life, when she is too disabled to attend her workplace but can reasonably work from home, is proportionate.

They’re not expecting her to move or otherwise. They have accepted it’s no longer their concern.

Depends what they're saying. If the contract is now for wfh rather than work at the office she'll be on the same terms as other wfh workers.

The growth of wfh is changing work so there's less need for London based jobs. Even before covid before I retired we moved almost all our staff out of London simply to cut costs. Apart from the prestige of a London address few companies actually need to be there.

I dont think the OP has said that though? The role is London based (I may have missed her saying otherwise). Most if not all of her colleagues have to do 3 days in the office. She was offered a reasonable adjustment of home working. She hasn't left London. She doesn't want to leave London. it doesn't sound like she's being asked to relocate. They just want to take away her allowance, for a reason arising from her disability. That action has to be proportionate. As she still lives in London, it is arguably not a proportionate action.

It isn’t the employers job to pay for the lifestyle that OP wishes to lead. It is their job to pay an agreed salary, which is not changing.

The employer pays an allowance to employees that need to live within a commutable distance of their London office. OP does not meet this criteria anymore. If she chose to move to the Scotland office she would lose the London weighting too, it is the same principle.

A person choosing to move away from their primary workplace for lifestyle reasons is entirely different to a disabled person being unable to attend their workplace but continuing to live in their long term home near the friends and family. The OP says she is disabled (I'm assuming she meets the definition of a disabled person in the equality act even though she only got her diagnosis a few months ago). The employer is not allowed to treat disabled people less favourably than non disabled people for reasons arising form their disability. Taking away the allowance may well be seen as less favourable treatment. It is arguably for a reason arising from her disability - ie her inability to attend the workplace is her disability, therfore removing the allowance arises from it. The final questions is if this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. It's not at all clear that the OP is making some massive saving by now working from home, in London. Expecting her to move given her now reduced salary is arguably not proportionate, especially given her medical needs.

But the result is the same, for whatever reason, if you don't attend the London office, you can't have the Londown weighting.
No, of course an employer can't treat a disabled person any worse, but neither can they treat them more favourably than everyone else in the same situation. There are any number of reasons why people may be unable to attend the London office, caring responsibilities etc, and they can't be treated less favourably than someone else who doesn't attend the office.

Lots of CS depts have this policy now. I think ours is home worker inside M25 you get London weighting, outside M25 you don't. Others are saying they will remove London weighting if people choose not to come to the office, regardless of where they live. Some are removing the allowance some are doing it on a marked time basis. Some depts have a London payscale some don't, some have payscale plus LW so easier to quantify and remove it. I get LW and I have to attend the office at least 2 days a week to keep it.

Half of London who were working from home for 2 years best starting paying their LW then.

LW is not (only) for travel.

OP do you claim PIP?

I think a lot of LW has / is in the process of being scrutinised.

DHs company has just reviewed it to say if you don't commute or live within the M25 (because many employees moved to the countryside during lockdown!) then you aren't entitled to it anymore.

I think that's fair.

My employer offered to pay my private transport to ensure I made it into the office with my MS. If I declined I would have expected a pay review.

My employer isn't responsible for my disability. And they aren't responsible for my lifestyle either. The fact they changed the job spec for more flexibility is the definition of "reasonable adjustment"

Would you be able to try to go into the office on a reduced basis if they provided parking or paid for taxis from the station? Our Department pays for taxis for some disabled staff that have difficulty walking and another colleague who is a wheelchair has been given a parking space in our basement in central London for her Motability car. If you have been recently diagnosed, could you argue the increased home working is for you to start to manage your condition, have treatment and physio etc. As someone mentioned above different departments handle this differently, I believe one pays London weighting to those with a home address within 50/60 miles of Whitehall and others pay it to those living within M25. Join a union, even thought they may not help you now, if you get over this hurdle you may need them in the future.

Sorry, that should read a wheelchair user.

If the London weighting is for commuting cost and you’re no longer commuting, then surely it’s not an issue? If say you spent £200 a month on travel and you got £300 London weighting, you could argue you are losing out. How much is your travel card and how much is the weighting a month?

As long as you are being treated the same as a non disabled person you are not being discriminated against.
As you work for the civil service the policy will be very clear cut .
I should think that all works no longer attending the office would lose the London weighting.

If you live in London and your site is in London, can't you agree to going in 1 day a week, to show willing? See if they accept that as a compromise.

i would be wary of rocking the boat at the moment. It's going to be tough times for Civil Servants ....

If you're in a Union, definitely talk it through with your Rep.