Adjustments for Disabled Employees

By David Coward

Employers are required to make reasonable adjustments to help disabled job applicants and employees.  

The requirement to make reasonable adjustments only applies to someone who is considered to be a disabled person.  An individual has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities. 

A duty arises where a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage either by an employer’s provision, criterion or practice, a physical feature of the employer’s premises, or an employer’s failure to provide an auxiliary aid.

Employers will only be obliged to make reasonable adjustments where the employer knows or ought reasonably to know that the individual in question is disabled and likely to be placed at a substantial disadvantage because of their disability.

Examples of adjustments that might be reasonable for an employer to make include:

• Making adjustments to premises, e.g. widening a doorway or providing a ramp for a wheelchair user.
• Allocating some of a disabled person’s duties to another worker.
• Changing a disabled worker’s hours, e.g. allowing a disabled person to work flexible hours to enable them to have additional breaks to overcome fatigue arising from their disability.
• Changing a place of work or arranging home working, e.g. relocating an employee’s workstation to an accessible place.
• Allowing a disabled worker to be absent during working hours for rehabilitation or treatment.

When considering whether an adjustment is reasonable, the legal obligation takes into account the extent to which the adjustment would have helped, its practicality, the cost, and the employer’s financial resources.

A failure by an employer to make reasonable adjustments can result in a successful claim for disability discrimination being brought. 

Contact David Coward on 01722 820938 for further information or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

David Coward