Possible disability discrimination - let it go?

[DarkMoonShine]

I feel like I’ve been discriminated against at work due to my disability:
I’ve been denied most reasonable adjustments (recommended by OH) on the basis that it wouldn’t be fair to other team members.
Another reasonable adjustment that was agreed upon is not consistently stuck to

And now I’ve had unkind remarks made to me about my disability - this is the thing that has upset me the most.
I’m not sure how to move forward, I worry that making a complaint will make everything worse and I can’t afford to lose my job. But not saying anything is causing anxiety as I don’t want to have to face co-workers.
Am I better off just letting this go?

For the site visit - what is different about going offsite (which you’re not able to) vs going to the office (which you are able to). That may inform more reasonable adjustments than not doing the offsite visits all together. Is it e.g the method of travel, the times, not knowing who you will be seeing, etc? That’s all things employers may be more willing to make adjustments for.

Doing the other task 3 times a week I think is less understandable as an adjustment. Is it doing that task in place of something else so really the adjustment is not doing the other task? If so then again adjustments could be made to the original task instead perhaps.

I think that basically the problem lies with your disability being a hidden one. I am sure that if you were in a wheelchair everyone would rally round to make life as easy as possible for you.

I would have a chat with the union if I were you. They might have useful advice and you could initially discuss with them without having to rock the boat at work in any way to start with.

I’m confused as to what disability could bring about those particular adjustments.

The OP has already said she has autism and agoraphobia.

I think you need to speak with HR to attempt at finding a reasonable compromise with the adjustments. You can’t continue taking AL or call in sick on the days you’re rota’d to do the visit, because that is even more unfair on your colleagues who doubtless have to fill in.

if you’re a valued and respected member of the team, they’ll hopefully want to find a good solution that supports your needs while minimally impacting your colleagues.

and you absolutely must report the unkind comments. There is no excuse for such pettiness and you shouldn’t have to accept them.

If you're able to go to the office once a week then the site visit should also be possible - what prevents you from doing that currently and what adjustments could be made to enable you to restart them? That's where the reasonable adjustments should be made - they are there to support you to continue doing key aspects of your role while taking into account any illnesses or conditions you might have.

Indeed - your employer may be wondering why you can go to some places and not others.

It’s really hard to advise without knowing how fundamental these site visits are to your job. But also I’m really confused about how it’s a reasonable adjustment to do a task MORE - can you say a bit more about that? Is it because you prefer that task to others? Is it a task everyone prefers? Why will doing it more help you and be a reasonable adjustment for your disability?

I’m sorry you’ve received unkind comments, that’s absolutely not ok. But I wonder if your employer is having trouble understanding how these particular adjustments are actually going to help you.

Colleagues having to go offsite twice as month instead of once, is not minimal impact. I think when adjustments are requested, it’s often underestimated the effect of them on others, or assumed that NT people don’t have any effects at all. Most people do not want to go to offsites, so this wouldn’t be a neutral change; this would be viewed negatively by most people.

I'm not so sure. For sure invisible disabilities can be particularly difficult for people the hard of thinking to understand but I don't think discrimination is limited to only those. I don't think comparisons between different disabilities are that helpful overall but a very close relative is a wheelchair user and has encountered some pretty shitty attitudes too. Lots of things like meetings or social events being held in inaccessible venues or lifts/ramps being broken for months on end and shoulder shrugging about how relative is supposed to participate or attend or evacuate in a fire, or people suggesting very inappropriate and unsafe manual handling of her and her chair to get her into places, or even worse grabbing the chair and moving her around physically without her consent. And also there's a staggering lack of understanding in the general population about wheelchair use and the reasons for it, the vast majority of people assume all wheelchair users are totally paraplegic I.e. have no use of their legs at all, and are shocked (and on rarer occasions unfortunately get quite angry and aggressive) when they realize that many wheelchair users have some use of their legs, can stand, turn, walk a few steps assisted or even sometimes walk quite far not in their chair - lots of people use a chair because of unsafe or reduced mobility or fatigue rather than because they're totally incapable of walking - my relative has sadly had people at work tease or berate her for 'being lazy' or 'faking it' or similar if she ever is seen leaving off her chair, even if the use of the chair has in no way impacted them (and don't get me started on blue badges which is a very rage-baity topic). And people definitely don't understand that a lot of wheelchair users don't 'just' use a chair, often they have a lot of comorbid symptoms or conditions of which the mobility is just one, particularly fatigue and pain related symptoms, so sometimes extra adjustments are needed for that rather than the chair itself which again can go down badly. I say all this not to make comparisons or say that it's ok for OP to be treated badly too because my relative has been (and to be fair most people are great particularly if given a little extra explanation), just to say anyone who thinks it's all ok and sorted in the world of physical disability and attitudes are universally lovely and supportive are sadly mistaken...

I’m not sure it is for you to assess the likely impact on others of the proposed changes, just as you would not expect them to assess the likely impact on you of taking your turn in working offsite. I would go back to Occupational Health and your managers to resolve things, with support from your union if you would find it helpful. I don’t think taking sick leave to avoid the site visit is helpful. Important to remember others may also have disabilities, health conditions and personal circumstances that constrain them in ways of which you could be unaware due to confidentiality.

Are you a wheelchair user? Because this is bollocks (said as a wheelchair user!)

@DarkMoonShinedefinitely contact your union.

What you're asking for isn't an adjustment

It's a change of job description

You actually want to avoid doing part of the role altogether and expect others to do it for you

This is absolutely UNreasonable

If you want a change of job description and a reduced salary, you could ask for this

You can't expect to make alterations to what you're expected to do, get others to do it for you and be paid the same money as you are now

I worked in HR for years.

1. This isn't really a reasonable adjustment because its asking more of another member of staff. This would most likely be declined by most companies particularly if its contractual (even verbal contractual).

1. It depends on the task if this is reasonable or not. What reason did they give to decline this adjustment?

Your disability is covered by the equalities act but the employer is entitled to decline any adjustment they consider unreasonable.

Largely ignore the people saying the impact on others is a problem. It's NOT YOUR problem. You have a recognised disability under the Equality Act, and your employer has a duty to make reasonable adjustments to meet your needs. The impact on other employees is only an excuse if these are so big that they will make it very difficult for the company to carry out the work. Also the company needs to consider whether you could better manage these visits if you were supported in some way - maybe someone going with you?

Very few adjustments will have no impact on others. I'm a Teaching Assistant in a college - I have two major adjustments - 1. I have one less class and one more period of admin time than my team mates - 4 and 2, instead of 5 and 1; 2. I have an hour a week with another TA doing one-to-one with me on admin.

You could argue that both of those is unreasonable and that I should be replaced by someone who needs no help and can do 5 classes, as this would maximise the team's ability to support, but in reality there is no major difference and it is reasonable they support me.

I'm guessing that no one wants to do the offsite visits because they're a hassle, but the one you want to do three times is popular.

Whereas I can see that not doing the offsite might be something that would relieve you stress, I'm wondering why it is important for you to do this particular thing more than others?
I can't really see how that would go into reasonable adjustment, unless it was you said "to make up for not doing the offsite visits, I'm happy to do an extra one of those"?

Thing is that often the tasks you like/dislike also the rest of the team like/dislike. Everyone does it without moaning because you all have to do it and that's accepted. If someone stops doing it, then people do feel resentful that they have to do it more often.

The impact on other employees is only an excuse if these are so big that they will make it very difficult for the company to carry out the work

That might well be the case here - but the OP won't know because it's confidential information. She is assuming it's not a big deal, but knows nothing of the other staff's personal circumstances and the impact this has on them. The fact that her requests have been declined makes me think that there are good reasons for this - but she obviously has no right to know about them.

Why as someone with autism and mental health problems can you not undertake the duties that are part of your job and were when you took it? That will be the consideration they will look at, neither are a barrier to doing a site visit (whereas being a wheelchair use may be) if you are asking for reasonable adjustments you need to make a case for why you should have them and not liking doing it isn’t a reason. We can often make a case for not doing certain tasks, autism isn’t a get out of jail free card for tasks you dislike, consider why you can’t do them.

I would be inclined to contact ACAS (free independent advice) as they’ll be able to let you know whether the proposed adjustments are objectively reasonable and what you should do next (most likely raise a grievance I expect).

You may have the basis to pursue your employer for failure to make reasonable adjustments, particularly as they should be exploring alternatives to the adjustments you put forward if they are unable to accommodate them and you are being put at a disadvantage.

They have a duty to make reasonable adjustments. The first adjustment of no off site visits is not a reasonable adjusment. Its a change of job description and even with a big team it may well be that its only in a few other people's job description. Its also adding to other people's off site visits which makes it unreasonable. Its not the OPs problem however she needs to under the law states "reasonable adjustment" which isnt what she is asking for.

I worked in HR for years. Your adjustments are reasonable. Most employers would give this as they dont have a negative or detrimental impact on the rest of the team. What the OP is asking for may well have a negative impact on the team. The managers will be aware of contracts, other staffs situations etc so will have made the decision on that basis.

OP how long have you been with the company? And what does your job description and contract say about off site visits?

Are you going into the office on the day that you should be doing an offsite visit @DarkMoonShine ? If you are not and the person who has to replace you is then not in the office, this creates an understaffed office once a month and is a legitimate business need to reject the adjustment.

If everyone works from home and only goes into the office once a week like you do, then the additional offsite visit could also be creating childcare issues for one or more of your team, due to extra travelling time, leaving the others to be unfairly expected to cover yours more than once in 6 months. Which they have already been doing.

How are you struggling to see that adjustment is not reasonable?

Fair enough, but the two offsite visits/three visits, certain tasks twice a week/three times a week seemed confusingly specific and I wondered what disability would necessitate them.

most companies would look to see if this is an operationally reasonable request or they could use the capability route, as in is this person capable of contracted job role duties. Whilst I am very sympathetic to your plight, unfortunately many business owners are struggling to operate by accommodating numerous requests like this.

Yes and no. Obviously you are totally right that she doesn't have the right to know that X can't travel because her disabled husband can't look after the kids alone, or Y can't do this task because he has this medical condition.

However, legally if OP went to court, the onus would be on the company to prove why this adjustment was an "unreasonable" request. If they simply said, "we can't do this because it might impact other employees" they would have to show/explain why the impact of the adjustment on other employees was unacceptably great or difficult. After all, most adjustments will impact the company/employees some how. If that was unacceptable, then basically if someone needed any adjustments to do a role in any way, it would always be legal for an organisation to refuse to employ them in that role, or terminate their employment. Clearly that is NOT the law.

There’s a very mixed bag of advice here! lots of what I’m reading I know to be incorrect. Disability and reasonable adjustments are very difficult areas of employment law to advise on over mumsnet but whatever route you go down here are two of the best things you can do right now…

keep a diary. Your lived experience of your feelings and the impact on you of your work is important evidence, this is a different feature of employment law and is taken seriously by anyone you might involve. This is called contemporaneous evidence, start a diary

second, check your household insurance and that you have legal expenses insurance, if not get it, you will be able to speak to paralegals and get verbal legal assistance. Helpful even if you have a union, they are differnent skills

Good luck and persevere

Your trade union representative will help you to tackle this. 💐