Disability Discrimination – Failure to Make Reasonable Adjustments

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) imposes a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments to working practices and premises in order to ensure that a disabled employee is not disadvantaged.

In Lyle v Bury Metro Racial Equality Council and Others, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld the decision of the Leeds Employment Tribunal (ET) that an employer with offices on the first floor of leased premises that were only accessible via a staircase had failed to make reasonable adjustments that would have enabled a disabled employee to return to work.

Mrs Lyle commenced working as a Diversity Officer for Bury Metro Racial Equality Council (REC) on 9 January 2006. She suffered health problems which restricted her mobility and was disabled for the purposes of the DDA. A month later, she fell at work, injuring her knees. Both her GP and an orthopaedic surgeon were of the view that as a result of the fall she would have considerable difficulty getting up and down stairs.

Mrs Lyle wrote to REC asking if she could work on the ground floor on her return to work. She was told that it was not possible to rent a downstairs room. In addition, having received one month’s full sick pay, she would in future receive only Statutory Sick Pay.

In a further letter to her employer, Mrs Lyle sent a six-week sick certificate and informed them that she had no option but to continue on sick leave, owing to her lack of mobility. Furthermore, she had contacted her trade union regarding the accident and REC’s failure to make reasonable adjustments to her working environment.

On 13 June, Mrs Lyle requested that REC reconsider her request for reasonable adjustments to be made for her return to work. On the same day, her trade union wrote to her employer lodging a statutory grievance on the basis that REC had discriminated against Mrs Lyle as they had failed to make any reasonable adjustments to allow her to undertake her work. On 5 July, a grievance hearing was heard at REC’s premises, in Mrs Lyle’s absence. During the meeting, REC said that it was not practicable to rent downstairs space, there was nowhere to install a stair lift and such an alteration would in any case require the landlord’s consent.

Mrs Lyle brought a claim of disability related discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments. The ET upheld her claim. By not installing a stair lift, REC had failed to make reasonable adjustments. In the ET’s view, the landlord would most likely have consented to the installation and a reconditioned stair lift could have been purchased for around £1,000. Funding for the adaptation could probably have been obtained from the Access to Work Programme. Although the duty to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee did not oblige REC to pay sick pay at the full rate after Mrs Lyle’s first month of absence, failing to make adjustments to the premises had resulted in disability-related discrimination which the employer could not justify, which resulted in lost earnings on her part.

REC appealed but the EAT upheld the ET’s decision. The employer had failed to show that had the adjustments found by the ET to be reasonable been made, the employee would still have remained off work.

Aston Bond says, “Whilst this decision is indicative of the extent of an employer’s duty under the DDA to make reasonable adjustments, this is a difficult area of the law and employers are advised to seek advice on their individual circumstances before taking any action.”

Telephone: +44 (0) 1753 486 777 (Slough Office)
Telephone: +44 (0) 1189 596031 (Reading Office)