The importance of properly assessing whether an action would amount to a reasonable adjustment under the Disability Discrimination Act has been highlighted by a recent case.
In Environment Agency v Rowan, the agency successfully appealed that in refusing Ms. Rowan a trial period of working from home, it did not discriminate by failing to apply a reasonable adjustment. However, the Employment Appeals Tribunal did state that a trial period should normally be used as a way of assessing if a future adjustment was viable rather than being seen as an adjustment itself.
This ruling may help ACM negotiators press for a trial period in order to assess the suitability of a proposed adjustment where it looks like the employer is minded to refuse the proposal.
Indeed, in this particular case the EAT said, “It is prudent for employers to adopt a trial period in an appropriate case to see whether home-working for example is a reasonable adjustment. An employer who has failed to investigate the possibility of home-working by a trial period may find it difficult to establish that home-working was not a reasonable adjustment. We consider that a trial period is akin to a consultation, or the obtaining of medical and other specialist reports; these do not of themselves mitigate or prevent or shield the employee from anything.”
