Disability Discrimination

Disability is one of the nine protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010. Employees are protected from:

• direct disability discrimination;
• indirect disability discrimination;
• discrimination arising from disability;
• harassment; and
• victimisation.

For more information on what these mean, please see types of discrimination.

Legal issues arising from disability can be extremely complex; if you have questions about potential disability discrimination please do call our employment law solicitors.

Do you need representation?

• If you are an employee and you think you have been discriminated against, take a look at our employment tribunal representation page.
• If you are an employer and an employee is making allegations of discrimination against you in the employment tribunal, take a look at the employment tribunal defence service.

Who has a disability?

The question of who is disabled is a complex one. Some conditions, such as blindness, cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis are “deemed” disabilities. Some conditions are excluded such as addiction to alcohol or other substances (however note that conditions that arise from addiction such as depression can be a disability).

Check out this definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010.

Reasonable Adjustments

An employer has a duty to make reasonable adjustments to help disabled employees.

In reality there are many ways in which an employer could help a disabled employee and an employer must be careful in working with the employee to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are agreed.

Contact our Employment Lawyers in Sheffield today

Speak to a member of our team today by contacting us on 0845 225 2635 or completing our online contact form here.