Disability Discrimination Act

Employment

Your questions answered

If I have a hypo at work, I feel that my employer is not very understanding and may ask me to leave. How can the DDA help me?

It is the responsibility of your employer to make reasonable adjustments to your working conditions, which may include allowing you to take more frequent breaks for snacks. It is reasonable to expect your employer to be flexible about your core working hours and allowing you to be away from the work area for this purpose. If you and your employer can’t agree, you may feel you need to take further action by either:

  • having an informal discussion with your employer about your needs and reminding them of anything that you feel is relevant in the DDA
  • making a complaint about your treatment through the organisation’s grievance procedure following the official ‘questions procedure’ – details of which can be obtained from the Disability Rights Commission Helpline (see Related contact details for telephone number and other contact details)
  • making a complaint to an employment tribunal.

Since 1 October 2004 there are very few exemptions to the DDA. The DDA applies to all businesses irrespective of how many employees are in the organisation. Among others, self-employed people, full and part time workers, contract workers and people on practical work experience are all now covered.

I want to apply to become a firefighter and I have diabetes. Is this type of work covered under the employment section of the DDA?

Prior to October 2004 the fire service, along with a number of other occupations, were not covered by the DDA. However, the Act has now been extended to cover almost all occupations.

The only occupation that is now explicitly excluded from the DDA is the armed forces. Employers such as the fire service and the police will now have to ensure that people with diabetes are medically assessed as to their fitness to work.

Diabetes UK is working to ensure that protection is provided by a system of individual assessment.

It is now illegal for any employer (other than the armed forces) to impose a blanket recruitment ban on people with diabetes. If you develop diabetes while in a job, your employer is obliged to make adjustments for you.

An employee has three months from the date of the incident to make an application to an employment tribunal. This is a strict limit.

I am applying for a job and the application form asks if I have a disability. Is this legal?

The DDA does not prevent employers from asking you for information about your health or disability but your employer must not use it to discriminate against you. If all job applicants are asked for the same information and this information is, or may be, relevant to the ability to do the job (after reasonable adjustment), this would not be discriminatory.

Asking about the effects of your disability might also be important in helping your employer to decide what adjustments ought to be made.

It is up to you whether you tell your employer about your disability. However, if your disability actually affects your way of working, you should talk to your employer and to your colleagues about it if you want a reasonable adjustment to be considered, for example if you need to leave the work area to have a snack or to inject your insulin.

It is always useful to let colleagues that you work closely with know about your diabetes and how to treat a hypo should this be necessary. If you do not tell your employers that you have a disability, it is unlikely that you would be able to appeal under the DDA if you have a problem at work.