If you have Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis – conditions collectively known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) – you may be concerned about your employment position. You may be employed or looking for a new job. You may be on benefits and are thinking about returning to work. While IBD is a chronic condition, with appropriate treatment it is often possible to remain well for long periods and many people with IBD are able to work full-time.
When is IBD a disability?
When asked whether or not they consider themselves to have a disability, 51% of respondents to the 2011 Crohn’s and Colitis survey answered yes. However, many people with IBD do not consider themselves disabled. Anyone with an ongoing illness may qualify for protection against discrimination. The fact that your
IBD is a variable condition, generally with good days and bad days, does not affect your rights. The main point is that the overall effect is long-term.
The Equalities Act 2010 defines disability as a physical or mental impairment which has an effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. This includes ‘hidden’ impairments or disabilities such as incontinence. The effect must be substantial, adverse and long-term. For example, the loss of bowel control is considered substantial and adverse if it is unpredictable and leads to immediate major soiling, even if it is infrequent. Minor but frequent loss of bowel control may also qualify as substantial and adverse. Long-term is generally taken to mean the effect has lasted, or is likely to last, at least a year. In most cases treatment for a health condition is not considered when deciding if someone is disabled under the law. This means that you may benefit from the protection of the Equalities Act if your symptoms are controlled by medication.
For more information about the Equality Act 2010, contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission or your local Citizens Advice Bureau listed under Further help.
What protection do I have under the Equality Act 2010?
The Act applies to all employers, whatever their size, except the armed forces. If you are considered to have a disability you qualify for protection under the Act, which covers all aspects of employment from recruitment to selection, training, promotion, redundancy and dismissal. Discrimination under the Act means either treating a disabled person less favourably than others because of their disability, or failing to make reasonable adjustments to the work place or working arrangements.
It is also unlawful to victimise a disabled person if they wish to take or have taken action in relation to their rights under the Act.
What are reasonable adjustments?
If the Equality Act applies to you, you can ask your employer for reasonable adjustments when any aspect of your working arrangements, including the building or place of work or your working hours, puts you at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person doing your job. These adjustments are not favours but rights.There is no certainty about what is or is not reasonable, but the cost and difficulty in making the adjustment and the size of the employer will be taken into account. Generally, if the adjustment is not too expensive considering the resources of the employer and the type of business, it is more likely to be considered reasonable.
Helpful adjustments that would not generally be too expensive could include:
• Allowing time for medical appointments or treatment
• Changes to your working day such as shorter or different hours
• Unlimited toilet breaks
• Moving your work station close to a toilet
• Providing a car parking space close to the entrance into work
• Allocating some of your duties to someone else
• Offering another place of work
• Providing you with relevant training, for example if some of your duties have been reallocated and you take on new tasks that are more suitable to your needs.
“I was informed that I would have to
work night duty as part of my role but
in the past night duty has given me
unnecessary flare ups. My previous
manager was very understanding
and took me off the night rota.
However, my recent employer is
unsympathetic, so I sought advice
from our occupational health
department who sent my manager a
letter stating I was not expected to
do nights.”
Where adjustments are expensive, such as installing separate toilet facilities, a scheme called Access to Work may be able to help (see below). Ultimately, if it is not possible for you to agree with your employer about whether an adjustment is reasonable, you could issue a claim in the employment tribunal in respect of your employer's failure to make reasonable adjustments and seek an award of damages. However, before you are able to issue a claim you would need to raise a formal written grievance with your employer. (See What can I do if I feel I have been discriminated against?) Contact the Equality and Human Rights
Commission for further information.
What is Access to Work?
Access to Work is a government funded scheme to help people with a disability overcome practical difficulties that may stop them from working. It is available for part-time or full-time workers and for those who are self-employed or unemployed and looking for work.
Besides possible help towards installation of toilet facilities, Access to Work can help in a number of ways such as with the additional costs of travel to work, if you are unable to use public transport. Any help provided is for a maximum period of 3 years, after which there is a review.
More information about Access to Work is available from the government website directgov.com. You can ask the Disability Employment Adviser at your local Jobcentre Plus office to put you in touch with your closest Access to Work Business Centre.
What can I do if I feel I have been discriminated against?
If you have had a conditional job offer withdrawn on medical grounds but feel that you would have been able to do the job with reasonable adjustments, you can make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal. The Equality Act places the burden of proof onto the employer to show that you have not been discriminated against.
If you suspect you have been treated unfairly in this way, it may be helpful to seek advice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. You may also face difficulties because of your IBD when you are in work. For example, you may be bullied by colleagues who believe that you just have a stomach upset, or do not understand that your tiredness is due to your IBD. As a first step it is usually a good idea to talk informally to your employer or manager about your concerns of how you are being treated. Often things can be resolved by talking them through, although it can also be useful to keep notes of conversations or meetings just in case you need to take the matter further.
Making a formal complaint
If you find the situation does not improve, you could make a formal complaint through your employer’s internal grievance procedure. A written grievance has to be submitted no later than three months after the discrimination happened. Your employer then has to arrange a meeting with you to discuss the problem. You have a legal right to take a colleague or trade union representative with you if you ask your employer beforehand. Alternatively you could ask a family member to accompany you, but in this case your employer does not have to agree to it. If you are not happy with the result of this meeting you can make an appeal to your employer.
If you find it difficult to make a complaint or if, having made it you are still not satisfied with the outcome, you might want to contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission, ACAS or other similar organisations to explore your options. You may be referred to a caseworker to help you to negotiate adjustments with your employer or, if necessary, to help you make a complaint to an Employment Tribunal.
In Part 3 - Travelling to Work, Returning to Work
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