Employment law

Gman

Gman

Gman

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,929
Location
Yorkshire
Will try and keep the this short so here goes.

This person is currently employed and requires the use of a wheelchair. They are currently at site 'A' which has got disabled parking within the companies grounds.

The company is planning to move to a new site 'B' which is roughly the same travel distance. However parking is limited within the grounds and employees will be forced to park in external parking areas roughly 5 mins walking distance.

Is they're any legal requirement here that the company has to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate a disabled place within the grounds of the new premises? Or could they get away with forcing the employee to park a distance away in the external car parks which by chair could be a 10+ minute journey, crossing roads etc?
 
The Equalities Act asks if 'reasonable adjustments' can be made in order for a disabled person to be able to perform their job. Your friend needs to argue that this adjustment is necessary versus the company arguing that it is not a reasonable adjustment on their part. Are they saying that they are unable to wheel themselves 5 minutes from their car to the office? How do they manage everywhere else?
 
There isn't any direct law on this IIRC, adjustments need to be reasonable which is considered on the merits of the situation, however I think having a few disabled parking spaces would be treated as reasonable for most people.
 
Cheers guys I'll pass this on.

When I say 5 mins, that's 5 mins for someone who can walk. By chair Theve got to go up hill and cross two roads. Then in the rain you can double that time combined with getting soaked.
 
Just paint one parking spot in the grounds at site B in yellow and designate it disabled? Can't be that hard, you could probably do it in your lunch break with a yellow can of spray paint? This guy is disabled 24/7 for the rest of his life remember, not just at work, give him a bit of slack.
 
Yup, if there is parking on the new site, then I think it is a reasonable expectation to have at least 1 disabled parking space.

I think it would be reasonable to consider if they will ever get any disabled visitors too.

I reckon 2 disabled spaces would be reasonable - one for the member of staff you mention and another for visitors.

But if parking is really tight, maybe just the 1 space, and make special arrangements should a disabled visitor need to attend.
 
yep that seems like the way to go from what i've read. Will see how it all pans out.
Thanks for the info.
 
MrMoonX said:
Let me guess you're the manager and the guy is shafting you with equalities act, my advice paint a damn disabled space ;)
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no no just a mate of the guy in the chair and looking out for him as the company's not kept him in the loop regarding the move.
 
Gman said:
no no just a mate of the guy in the chair and looking out for him as the company's not kept him in the loop regarding the move.
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That doesn't sound very clever of them, companies need to be conscious of the needs of all their staff but where an employee fits into a grouping which has protected characteristics it pays to be extra careful unless they enjoy employment tribunals. Where it's a small company they might find it easier to argue that to make the appropriate adjustments would be unreasonably burdensome on them but it will depend on the individual circumstances.
 
For the sake of peace and tranquility, the company should just paint over one of the parking spaces and reserve it for the bloke.

That said, a 10-15 minute walk for able-bodied people is what I'd call the accepted norm. I'd call a five minute walk for able-bodied people to be particularly good… so when that translates to 15 minutes for a disabled person it's not *that* bad.
 
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