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Your duties under the Disability Discrimination Act
From 1 October 2004 for the first time the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
will cover small employers – those with fewer than 15 staff.
Most organisations that employ 15 or more staff are already covered by these duties.
According to the DDA, discrimination occurs if you treat a disabled employee less
favourably than you treat an employee who does not have a disability (unless that
discrimination can be justified).
It is unlawful for you to discriminate against a disabled employee:
- in the arrangements you make for determining to whom you should offer employment
(e.g. job specifications, selection criteria, processes, location and timing
of interviews, assessment techniques)
- in the terms on which you offer that person employment
- by refusing to offer, or deliberately not offering, the person employment
- in the opportunities which you afford the employee for promotion, training
or receiving any other benefit
- by dismissing the disabled employee, this includes redundancy, compulsory
early retirement and constructive dismissal (i.e. when the employee resigns
as a response to your actions)
- by subjecting your employee to any other detriment (including harassment
by colleagues)
Discrimination also occurs if you fail to make 'reasonable adjustments' to
your workplace and practice and cannot show that this failure is justified.
To avoid discrimination in the workplace, it is a good idea to establish a policy
for equality
in the workplace.
Meeting the needs of disabled customers
The DDA states that you must not treat disabled customers unfairly, no matter what size your company is.
There are lots of things you can do. Some changes don’t cost very much, such as providing a seat for people who have mobility impairments and cannot stand for very long.
If you are unsure how you can assist a disabled person, you could consider asking them what you can do to help.
If you can’t make adjustments like these to your service for a disabled person, you must consider whether there are other ways of providing an equivalent service, such as home delivery, where this is reasonable.
more information
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