Reasonable adjustments-disability

[BasalGanglia]

I've recently returned to work following long term sickness. I had a uterine rupture, which caused a massive haemorrhage and in turn a cardiac arrest with subsequent hypoxic brain injury.

The lasting effects are mainly fatigue, right hand weakness and voice problems and I believe I'm now classed as disabled.

I'm wanting to reduce my hours from full time over 5 days to 4 days due to the fatigue, however my employer is notorious for not being flexible to part time requests.

I'm wondering if this would be considered as a reasonable adjustment as per the equality act for disabilities. I know it's ultimately their decision but was wondering if anyone had been through anything similar?

I might have to consider leaving if I don't get 4 days, surely it's in their best interests to have me for 4 days than none at all.

Yes this would be considered a reasonable adjustment as your condition is long term and affects your every day functioning.
But you must go through Occ health and provide medical reports from HCP involved in your care to support the need for this. Thats your best way of being successful as the company would find it difficult to refuse unless they could provide a good business case as to why this wouldn't work.

On another note, the best way of managing fatigue over the long term is to work shorter days so you have a little energy left after work EVERY day rather than a boom and bust cycle.
And make sure the company adjust the workload pro rata for the new hours

Depends on the fatigue. Some people need more rest days. It’s not one size fits all

Tell manger if they have not already acted for an Occup health assessment followed by occ therapy, and workstation assessment. I'm sure you/they will be able to sort something out/

Thanks for the replies. My employer is actually the NHS and I work at the hospital I was treated at so they know exactly what's happened.

I've had appointments with occupational health and they've made a note saying that I'm now disabled and that I've requested 4 days but they haven't actually endorsed it if you see what I mean.

There is a lot of useful information on this on the Citizen Advice website. I would have a look through this and maybe speak with an adviser before you approach your employer or do something drastic like leave your job. If you aren't in a union, I would join one.

@BasalGanglia it's not just about them knowing what happened it's about a report on why you suffer from neurological fatigue, how this affects you at work and how your current working pattern is contributing to this.
Have they actually had this info?
Involve your union if you have one, arrange a meeting to discuss the contents of the report

@BasalGanglia you have an OH report stating you are disabled. Definitely apply for this as a reasonable adjustment.

Don’t use the flexible working form instead email your manager and cc HR in. Reference the OH report and be clear you are requesting a reasonable adjustment.

Thanks, I'll definitely do that.

Me again!

This time I'm having issues with an element of my job that involves speaking with people outside the department (doctors, other clinicians etc). This would only happen maybe once a month.

My speech has been affected by the hypoxic brain injury, I can speak but it's effortful and not very clear.

Part of my occupational health report states that I should avoid tasks with lengthy conversations and use email/teams where possible.

Now my manager is saying it's part of the role and has "offered" the chance for me to downgrade a band where this clinical engagement isn't a requirement.

I feel like this is a threat of demotion if I don't do the speaking part of my role and is verging on discrimination.

I don't see why I can't just email as a reasonable adjustment and explain my impediment beforehand.

Yes, I’ve been though a reasonable adjustment thingy at work.

I’m not a lawyer but my understanding is that if the symptoms you describe are likely to affect you for 12 months or more, it’s likely to be a disability.

You can ask for an occupational health assessment (tbh not sure why your employer hasn’t suggested one already) and also speak to Access to Work (part of DWP). They have been very helpful in my case.

If your employer disagrees that going down to 4 days emailing stakeholders instead of speaking to them is reasonable, the employment tribunal will decide if they change your duties and you take action - it depends also on the exact nature of the job, whether f2f conversations are a core part of it, how big the employer is (the bigger the more is expected of them, this is my understanding at least). Offering a new post could be seen as a reasonable adjustment but if it comes with a loss of pay then it’s not so clear, I think.

Perhaps speak to an employment solicitor, some offer free initial advice.

(I’ve edited as didn’t see your latest post, sorry)

I'm sorry to hear this - what a time you have had. To answer your question, I believe that your manager needs to help you consider reasonable adjustments.

I'm not sure what else that could look like, but OH and your SALT may have suggestions. Is Teams a practical solution do you think?

My SALT is hopeless to be honest.

I think Teams would be useful with the chat function, I'm seeing my vocational occupational therapist tomorrow so I'll see what she says.

I'm still in my phased return and could do without the stress

Have you thought about contacting Access to Work, they might be able to suggest technology that could help. I have a hearing impairment and they suggested devices to allow me to hear on the phone and that amplify sounds to my hearing aids.

There are technologies that you type into and it speaks for you or you could wear a headset with a microphone that could project your voice. They should explore all options for reasonable adjustments before downgrading your role otherwise it could be disability discrimination.

There is also as you stated the Teams chat function where you can still contribute. Your manager is on shaky ground. Have you got a HR wellbeing team for your Trust, I would speak to them too, they probably don't know the manager is saying this to you.

Thanks for this, I've heard about Access to Work but haven't had a chance to look into it too much.

I work for the NHS so you think they'd be hot on the HR side of things.

Many managers are clueless and should take HR advice lest they get themselves into trouble.

You can phone ACAS for advice on your employment rights too.

https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work

https://www.acas.org.uk/

I would see what Access to Work can help with in terms of technology to help you. I think your manager is verging on doscrimation if they are suggesting a demotion. I can't see why email/teams chat can't be seen as reasonable adjustments for something that happens once a month. If this was something daily and it was required to be face to face then perhaps, but its not.

I know a couple of people who have returned to work in the NHS after injury (one TBI who needed to reduce hours to shorter days due to fatigue, the other who became visually impaired and was community based - Access to Work paid for taxis to avoid the need to drive). Both of them had quite a bit of a fight unfortunately to keep their jobs. Obviously you would expect the NHS to be supportive but a lot of managers are not great.

Suggesting downgrading when a simple reasonable adjustment is sending an email and using readily available technology is potentially discrimination.

Email your manager and cc your HR and state that it is unreasonable to refuse simple cost neutral reasonable adjustments email etc. (set out details)

Also state you feel their offer to downgrade is extremely premature and not justified when you are still on a phased return and learning what reasonable adjustments you require having become disabled.

The suggestion of downgrading at such an early stage in the process is adding additional unnecessary stress and I would appreciate a more supportive approach as we work together to identify barriers and put reasonable adjustments in place.

I agree Access to Work is a useful resource. You may find the NHS has to fund it rather than DWP.

Whether something is a reasonable adjustment is pretty subjective so it's hard to say whether your employer is being reasonable in offering a different role to accommodate you.

I know with my job it simply wouldn't be possible to avoid speaking as it's integral to my position but there's so many factors from outside I can't give an opinion on them suggesting a downgrade. I would consider whether this new position would be a better fit all around before dismissing it. Sorry you are in this situation.

@mitogoshi

I worked with a profoundly deaf colleague as an HR consultant and they managed in a role which required a lot of listening and speaking. The technology and services available were amazing.

The OPs manager is jumping the gun. The reality is we have an aging population and a big chunk of economically inactive people of working age. Managers and colleagues need to be prepared to look at ways of work differently to enable staff/colleagues to achieve their potential and contribute to the economy. The lack of imagination is breathtaking to me.

Yes a reduction in hours would be considered a reasonable adjustment under disability. But for those guidelines to kick it would need to be documented as such.

if the role was not suitable for part time hours for whatever reason based on service delivery for example then alternative avenues would need to be sought by the employer.

I have seen others comment regarding shorter days across the week instead of consolidating to 1 full days less. Each person will have a chance preference for their own reasons - personally I find that one full day at work less a week works best for me fatigue wise.
One less day in the week to think about

• alarm clock when you are knackered
• physically getting ready
• the commute
• dealing with traffic

Financially it can also make sense when you are already taking the hit to reduce your salary by a fifth to remain in work with an illness like fuel, parking, snacks, lunches etc

Also worth considering is a temporary reduction in hours for say 6 months initially. With the view for to be reviewed and if any improvements back to FT, if not stay PT for another 6. Often this approach placates managers who are being unnecessarily difficult.

Just an update on this...

I spoke with HR who reassured me that I wouldn't be forced to downgrade and that it was offered as a supportive measure - pretty standard HR response really.

I had a catch up with the head of department, who is the manager of person who suggested I downgrade. She seemed quite peeved that I'd gone to HR before talking to her and didn't seem to grasp how upsetting it's been for me. She was non committal when I mentioned that I'd be putting a flexible working request in to drop a day, so I'm not holding my breath for that.

I do have a letter of support from my community vocational occupational therapist so we'll see how much weight that holds.

Keep OH updated with any changes in your health.

Get your union rep involved with all meetings, and start a record of what happened, what has been said by people, what 'suggestions' have been made by management etc.

Also, you need to ask for a personalized risk assessment, specifically so that you have it in black and white what accommodations or special equipment they need to supply to ensure that you are not disadvantaged by disability when doing your job. (There is NO excuse for the NHS not providing this due to the 'size' of the business !)

Begin it with the walking distances from car park (if you arrive exhausted, it makes the whole day worse), any pain/discomfort due to working equipment (chair/desk/computer/ lifting/carrying etc), difficulty speaking at length (How can this be alleviated e.g typing instead of talking emails/Teams chat etc etc Is there a piece of equipment which would help - ACAS is great for this)

Asking for a reduction of hours due to disability IS 100% a 'reasonable adjustment' ! (I had the opposite, where managers wanted to cut my hours, but I wanted to remain full time, but needed specific equipment to help me)

At the moment, due to disability, I have personalised risk assessments done for different sites I work at. I have to have a chair with armrests, a foot support, a back support, a wrist support, an adjustable monitor screen (no laptop use), disabled parking spot (and a procedure to follow if the disabled spot is in use) and I can only travel a certain time/distance to get to work etc

This means that I have it in black and white that I cannot work at sites that are too far away, or that do not have EVERYTHING that I require ready and waiting for me. It also means that I am not EVER having to put my health at risk due to any whims of managers needing to staff different areas. I can just say 'No'.

It took a long time, and LOTS of Union help to get everything into place, and like you, managers were initially trying to demote me to an admin post or trying to get me to leave of my own volition by saying 'well if you're not fit to go wherever I send you, then you're not fit for the job?'

I just kept having 'meetings', kept being re-referred to OHS, and kept an entire diary of emails/meetings/phone conversations etc etc until eventually I did a formal grievance. THAT was the turning point for management, because I had evidence of ALL their attempts to disregard their own bloody |Equality/diversity policies (as well as Health & safety/ Staff governance/Grievance policy/ Workforce policies investigation process/Bullying & harassment etc

Begin by completing an 'Am I being bullied at work reflection tool' (In Bullying/harassment Policy). Then look at the other NHS policies, and highlight areas that are relevant to you and your situation. And get your union rep involved asap !

It's a long slog, the NHS moves at a snails pace, but it's worth it to ensure you keep your job (and to force the NHS to practice what they preach by honouring their OWN policies !)

I am glad HR has supported you.

Thanks for such a detailed response - I am definitely taking your advice!

I put my flexible working request in on Friday, with supporting information from my vocational occupational therapist.

There seems to be a push towards promoting flexible working at my Trust, with it being the top item on their comms email this week. The Trust my husband works for is the same so I'm not sure if this is a nationwide cost cutting exercise. I think they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if it's not granted.