Reasonable Adjustments Explained | Discrimination Law for Businesses

Abigail Martland and Kasey Hamer from the discrimination law team at Stephensons provide a brief overview of reasonable adjustments and the obligations business owners and organisations have in relation to them.

If you are an employer, small business owner, housing association, or any other service provider, and you are unsure where you stand on your Equality Act duties and obligations, please do not hesitate to call us on on 0333 323 3760 or visit our website for more information on making reasonable adjustments:

https://www.stephensons.co.uk/site/businesses/defending-discrimination-claims/reasonable-adjustments-guidance-for-businesses/?utm_source=organic&utm_medium=youtube&utm_id=social

Video transcript

Hi, my name is Abigail Martland and I'm a Chartered Legal Executive in the discrimination department. This is my colleague, Kasey Hamer, who is a Solicitor Apprentice.

This video today is designed to be a really brief overview of reasonable adjustments as a guidance for businesses.

Under Section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, if a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to somebody who does not hold that disability, then, as a business, you are legally required to take steps to minimise that disadvantage. A disabled person could be at disadvantage due to a provision, criterion or practise, a physical feature of your organisation or a failure to provide or the absence of an auxiliary aide. Failing to act upon this duty may open you up to a legal claim being brought against you.

The duty is not only owed by employers to employees, businesses and organisations that perform a public function or provide a service are also obliged to make adjustments for its service users. Housing and associations and government departments, such as the police, health services, education providers and local authorities also have a duty to make reasonable adjustments where possible. Whether you are an employer or a service provider, you may be concerned that you are unable to grant the request for a reasonable adjustment. What may be considered reasonable is not defined in the Equality Act.

What is considered reasonable at that time will be entirely dependent upon the individual circumstances of that request, the context of and the financial resources available to you and your business and the practicality of granting the request at that time, so, although a business is not legally obliged to grant all reasonable adjustment requests, the business will be expected to be able to show that it has carefully considered that request for an adjustment and has explored all reasonable alternatives to alleviate that disadvantage or detriment that the person is at.

If you're an employer, a small business owner, housing association or a service provider and you're unsure on where you stand on your obligations under the Equality Act 2010, please get in contact with us that we can provide you with advice and assistance. In the discrimination department at Stephensons, we are considered experts and specialists in our field and we can assist with both civil claims and employment tribunal claims. All of our details can be found on the website.

Видео Reasonable Adjustments Explained | Discrimination Law for Businesses канала Stephensons Solicitors LLP