Disability Discrimination
The obligations of employers towards disabled job applicants and disabled employees are set out in the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The DDA only applies to employers with 15 or more employees (including part time and full time employees) – this means that small employers with less than 15 employees cannot be subjected to claims of disability discrimination at the Employment Tribunal.
In order to create disability discrimination legislation, parliament needed to introduce a legal definition of who counts as a ‘disabled person' within the meaning of the Act. The statutory definition of a disabled person is a person suffering from a physical or mental impairment that has a long term (12 months) and substantial effect on their ability to carry out day to day activities. The definition of disability includes many people who may not ordinarily consider themselves disabled. For example, the definition will often include people who have suffered from a mental illness, people suffering from serious back conditions and people suffering from different forms of repetitive strain injury.
In general terms, there are 3 areas where employers need to understand their obligations towards disabled people:-
It will be an act of discrimination for an employer to refuse to employ a disabled person for a reason related to their disability unless that decision is genuinely justified. For example, it will be an act of discrimination if an employer refuses to employ somebody simply because they have mentioned on the application form that they have suffered from a mental illness or a serious repetitive strain injury at some point in that past. The legislation allows employers to ask prospective job applicants about whether they have a disability but the code of practice suggests that employers should be positive about this and state on any application form that they are prepared to make reasonable adjustments to facilitate the employment of a disabled person.
The obligations of employers towards disabled job applicants and disabled employees are set out in the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The DDA only applies to employers with 15 or more employees (including part time and full time employees) – this means that small employers with less than 15 employees cannot be subjected to claims of disability discrimination at the Employment Tribunal.
In order to create disability discrimination legislation, parliament needed to introduce a legal definition of who counts as a ‘disabled person' within the meaning of the Act. The statutory definition of a disabled person is a person suffering from a physical or mental impairment that has a long term (12 months) and substantial effect on their ability to carry out day to day activities. The definition of disability includes many people who may not ordinarily consider themselves disabled. For example, the definition will often include people who have suffered from a mental illness, people suffering from serious back conditions and people suffering from different forms of repetitive strain injury.
In general terms, there are 3 areas where employers need to understand their obligations towards disabled people:-
It will be an act of discrimination for an employer to refuse to employ a disabled person for a reason related to their disability unless that decision is genuinely justified. For example, it will be an act of discrimination if an employer refuses to employ somebody simply because they have mentioned on the application form that they have suffered from a mental illness or a serious repetitive strain injury at some point in that past. The legislation allows employers to ask prospective job applicants about whether they have a disability but the code of practice suggests that employers should be positive about this and state on any application form that they are prepared to make reasonable adjustments to facilitate the employment of a disabled person.
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