Disability Discrimination Act brings big change
24 September 2004
ALL employers will now be affected by the amendment to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 when it is enforced on 1 October.
The new regulations extend the reach of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 by removing the small employer exemption (15 employees or less), meaning the Act will apply to all businesses and service providers alike.
The new DDA regulations will now cover employment on ships, hovercrafts and planes; plus fire-fighters, prison officers and specialised police forces (but not the armed forces).
Partnerships, barristers, advocates and their pupils, qualifications bodies and practical work experience will also come under the regulations.
Sadiq Vohra, employment lawyer at MWR Solicitors in Preston, says the new regulations will clarify the different types of discrimination:
“Additional definitions of discrimination have been provided by the Regulations: direct, disability-related, failure to make reasonable adjustments and harassment.
“Direct discrimination is where the discrimination is because of the disability. Disability-related discrimination is usually more subtle or indirect. For example, a policy to dismiss after a period of sick leave may affect more disabled people than able bodied people,” explained Sadiq.
“The duty to make reasonable adjustments will be widened from "arrangements made by or on behalf of an employer" to "provision, criterion or practice applied by or on behalf of an employer", and the duty will apply to all stages of the employment process, rather than just to recruitment and the terms on which employment is afforded.
“The employer is also duty-bound to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the disabled person, unless contrary justification can be provided. A reasonable adjustment is now subject to the nature and size of a business and if the step was taken in relation to a private household, how much disruption this would create.
“Harassment is now described where a person subjects a disabled person to harassment where, for a reason which relates to the disabled person’s disability, he/she engages in unwanted conduct which violates the disabled person’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the person.”
Mr Vohra concluded: “These new regulations widen the scope of the original Disability Discrimination Act which now applies to all employers, who will have to be more careful in considering whether their premises, policies and procedures put disabled individuals at an unfair disadvantage. However they may be able to justify not making reasonable adjustments by reasons such as limited resources.”
