https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3862-3292
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Nerys Williams, Diana Kloss, Can Adjustments Ever Be Harmful?, Occupational Medicine, Volume 70, Issue 2, March 2020, Page 145, https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqaa042
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The Equality Act 2010 imposes a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments to the physical workplace and provisions, criteria and practices (PCPs) of employment, and to provide auxiliary aids, for job applicants and workers with a disability. These are to be made by the employer to facilitate employment, return to work and continuation in work for employees with physical or mental impairments which cause substantial and long-term adverse effects on normal day-to-day activities, putting them at a disadvantage compared with those without such an impairment.
Employers are often faced with employees who make requests for specific adjustments. They are not required to introduce all or any adjustments, just those which are ‘reasonable’ and it is for the employer to determine what is ‘reasonable’ given the ease, cost, job requirements, staffing and other workplace factors.
But what is the position if an employee requests an adjustment which is reasonable in terms of the practicability, cost, etc. needed to implement it, but which is against recognized medical advice or potentially not in the clinical interests of the patient?
