Disability act

[Ncoff]

Can anyone tell me if we’re covered under the disability act, looking to reduce my hours at work and being told I need to work later. I physically can’t do it I’m so tired cum late afternoon. Feel like I’m being forced out of a job

[MEW53]

Hi Ncoff,

This is a difficult dilemma for you, I had to give up work 5 years ago as I was physically unable to do my job. I was kept on the books until retirement age when I was asked to attend an interview about special needs, but I said I wouldn’t be able to return to work. I still go back for lunch in their staff canteen occasionally.

I did find this on the gov web site this morning and it does mentions changes to start and finish times:

assets.publishing.service.g...

Hope this helps.

[ilovedancing in reply to MEW53]

Reasonable adjustments were made for me which did make my job slightly easier. I was on the point of applying for ill health retirement but advised unlikely I would get it by occupational health. Luckily before I sent in my application the opportunity arose for voluntary redundancy. I applied and was accepted. I left work last week after working my 3 months notice. I won't get my state pension for another 3 years but will just about be ablrme to manage until then. If you are ibmn union get advice from them. If not I suggest you join one. They have been very helpful to me.

[MEW53 in reply to ilovedancing]

Sounds good that work did some adjustments for you.

I was of the view that work very helpful to me when I was first diagnosed as I hadn’t been there very long when I was so ill, they looked after me well, got paid for a while too which I wasn’t expecting.

I’ve now got my state pension and I was only working 20 hours a week.

They were an excellent employer and looked after me well.

[Glynis]

When I was in work, and had an issue with my line manager, My union rep told me that I came under the disability umberela, that's why he changed his tune over the warning he gave me cause of my sick, Speak to your occupational Health person, or your union Good Luck, Don't let them bully you .,

[frillyhilly]

Hi. When I started to struggle with work, I was asked to provide a letter from my GP which then allowed the company to provide me with a specialist chair, equipment, etc. Later, when I asked to reduce my hours, that was a lot harder because there was supposed to be a standard "part time" hours and I needed to work less. Fortunately there were several people, in different departments, that I knew who were working less hours than I wanted. So again I had to provide a letter from my GP. However I was put onto a different job because my original job needed someone to do it full time.

I'd try and find out if there is anybody else working part-time at the company as that will help your case. The company may well have a policy on part-time working hours - it may be in the contract they gave you.

I did a quick search on the web and it looks like Citizen Advice are the people to contact for advice, unless you belong to a union.

Hope you get things sorted out quickly, N

[Ncoff]

Hi there are several others with an alternative shift pattern who work set hours and they also have health issues, unfortunately they say they support disability but from what I can see they are doing everything to get rid of us. The needs of the business are changing, considering I work fir the emergency services with 24 hr demand is irrelevant. It’s the only dept that do not help or support

[LucyJean]

Hi there, Scleroderma is a long term condition and is covered by the legislation, which is now The Equality Act 2010 as far as I am aware. It says that employers have to make reasonable adjustments...but this can be interpreted differently by different employers and really does depend on how good your employer/manager are...as well as the overall ethos and size of the company that you work for. It is not a straight forward process as there are no specific guidelines laid down.

You need to have your HR, occupational health and manager on board, and most importantly I would ask for letters of support from your healthcare team such as your Consultant, specialist nurse, occupational therapist and/or GP.

It is also really important that you know yourself and your job inside out so you know what specific tasks and situations cause you problems and provide some ideas about how they can be changed or adapted to meet your needs. This way you can give detailed information to your manager about what will enable you to carry on working. letting other people make decisions about what will help you is often far from helpful because they don't know what you struggle with. Think about whether changes to start and finish times, or working pattern would help...or if you were able to do a variety of tasks with breaks...or if a different chair, or other equipment that you use would be an advantage.

There is a government service called Access to Work and they may be able to support you with funding and/or advice about equipment or technology that could help you. There is also a service provide through the job centre through the Disability Employment Advisors who can provide support and advice about changes to work, or retraining opportunities or what to do if you need to leave your job.

There is information on the gov.uk websites under Disability and work.

Hope that helps

Lxxxx

[Ncoff in reply to LucyJean]

Thank you that’s really helpful

[Hidden]

You can get a copy online free of the disability act - try in google