Broken Lift Since November, Is This Lawful?

[LiftInUKElevatorInUSA]

I have been working for the company I’m at for nearly 20 years in various roles and at different sites. My current position I started in November, I work in a two storey building with stairs (10 + 10) and a lift for those who need it, my department and team are all on the first floor. I have a degenerative condition that makes stairs impossible for me to navigate without extreme pain. The lift is out of order and has been since I started there in November. Co workers think because I’m downstairs I have left the department. If there’s a meeting I’m on the ground floor via teams ‘attending’ when everyone else is upstairs. I have repeatedly (every couple of weeks) asked about whether there’s any news on the lift repair but have been told to stop asking. The union have been useless. Does anyone know whether this is unlawful under the equality act or disability discrimination law? Thanks in advance.

Sorry, no idea, but hopefully someone who does will be along soon!

isn't there a meeting room on the ground floor??

can you 'invite' your co workers down to your desk to discuss stuff? To keep your profile up.

The ground floor meeting room isn’t really an option as the training team have it booked out a lot. Rather than calling via teams or emailing any questions or points to raise during the day I could send a chat message for them to pop down. I’m conscious that I don’t want anyone to think I’m wasting time with colleagues coming downstairs to see me. It’s open plan down where I am.

Do your company own the building, or is it managed by a LL?

I manage office buildings and it's not illegal for us to not provide lift access.

The company does own it.

Well, could you book a regular weekly slot in the downstairs meeting room. It's not fair for them to totally monopolise it!!

its not 'wasting time' to speak to your colleagues in person. If they think it is, you might as well WFH if your only communicating via teams/chat/whatever

@trampoline123 i would have thought if there is one it should be fit for purpose. At another site we employ a woman in a wheelchair and they’ve installed a raising platform for her to get into the building and sensors on doors so they open. I have a feeling that if she moved to the building I’m in they would miraculously solve the problem.

It's good practice and makes sense to keep a lift in working order, but not illegal to not have a lift.

I used to manage facilities for a large building. Sometimes the parts for lifts would take months to come... so it took forever to get them repaired due to lack of parts. So it might not be lack of action, but lack of parts.

Thank you for this. Hopefully this is the case.