Reasonable adjustments

[user56889866]

Hi I have two staff who both require reasonable adjustments. Staff member A who was diagnosed and treated for cancer 5 years ago and staff member B who has been off sick for 2 months with mental health issues due to work and is returning next week.
So we work in a small pharmacy and B works on the counter serving customers and has said due to anxiety she can't cope with customers.
Staff member A has worked in the back doing a job that involves sitting as she finds it too much to stand at the counter all day (no option to sit). This was agreed with a previous manager although there is no written agreement just verbal.
Now staff member B wants to do a job in the back however there is only enough work for one of them.
What should I do?

If there is no HR department then you really should engage a consultant / employment lawyer with this.

However, I think it is quite straight forward, B’s requested adjustment to not deal with customers is not reasonable and you don’t have to agree it.

What is less clear is whether you should be continuing to accommodate A working in the back all day. This is something you could get the consultant to look into at the same time.

This. Can't they alternate?

I think for the sake of your employees and you… you should outsource HR. It isn’t generally very expensive for a small business and they operate a lite touch

Agree with a lot of the advice given.

Person A don't even try to change their role. They are automatically covered by the Equality Act due to having cancer irrespective, whether it impacts them 5 years later plus their adjustments have been in place for several years. Not fair to change their role due to B either.

Person B - may or may not be covered by the Equality Act - it depends on how long they've had their condition, if it's manage with medication, and if so, for how long plus other factors. If had issue for less than 12 months and un-medicated, not likely covered by Equality Act.

You do need a occupational health report plus guidance from employment lawyer. As with what PP have said, adjustments have to something you can accommodate and moving B to a back role does not sound like you can due to lack of work. Regular micro breaks, reduced hours and a well-being action plan or stress risk assessment is what OH will potentially recommend.

Speak to employment lawyer first. OH tend to favour the employee and will suggest adjustments (to the employee and outside of mentioned above) you may not be able to offer.

I would see about terminating B's employment legally. B is clearly in a line of work that does not suit their wellbeing and will become a long-term pain in your ass if kept on.

Do speak to HR.

But also remember that this isn’t a 2 adjustments that you are considering together.

A has long-standing adjustments in place for her disability. That was in place long before B even started the job. So A is not actually relevant to B’s request other than as a non-negotiable part of the determination of ‘reasonable’. It’s not a ‘precedent’ because it’s small business and there simply isn’t capacity for more back-office work. A was hired to do a customer service role.

B’s request is simply not reasonable. You can offer alternatives - part time hours, avoiding certain shifts, things that are workable (without changing anything about A’s existing adjustments). If none of that will work for B, then there are capability procedure that can be used in a completely non-discriminatory manner.

For A however… completely separately, it could be possible that she could use funding through Access to Work to pay for changes to the counter space to enable her to work front of house and still sit down. It depends on whether that would be realistic, but it might be worth her getting in contact with DWP about it.

B can also contact them about access to work funding.

But definitely call an HR professional!