Why is disability consideration important in the workplace?

Introduction:

There is a Spanish proverb which says, “A rule isn’t unfair if it applies to everyone” (Anonymous)

If this was the case within employment law, workers would all be treated the same and with the same rules applied to all. The main problem with this (and indeed a potential problem with this proverb) is that some workers who are at a disadvantage, through for example a disability, are at risk of being treated the same as somebody without the same disadvantage. On the face of it, this would be unfair from the outset.

The justice system exists to systematically judge fairness when applied to specific rules and over many decades the law has established legislation to prevent discrimination against workers with a potential disadvantage. The legislation relevant to disability discrimination is within the Equality Act 2010.

This is a complex legislation which raises several questions pertaining to the rights and expectations of employees - and with similar reasoning, the rights, responsibilities and expectations of an employer. These will be discussed further by looking at the relevant legislation to understand this in more detail.

Discussion:

The Equality Act protects individuals with particular characteristics which the Act calls ‘protected characteristics’. These are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual discrimination. For the purposes of this assignment, the focus shall be on disability in the workplace.

Disability

Under Section 6 of the Act, disability is defined as:

1)    A person (P) has a disability if

a.     P has a physical or mental impairment, and

b.     The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”

There are different types of discrimination to consider in the context of disability.