I agree with Alan Swan. If the firm is going to provide a piece of personal
individual equipment, then there should not be a cost to the employee.
After all, most employers meet the cost of a pair of basic spectacles for
DSE users with intermediate distance problems. I have only heard of one
which required the specs to be left at work(so they didn't use them for home
computer use!)
Best wishes,
Diane Romano-Woodward OHA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Swann, Alan B" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: deafness and access to work
Might be worth getting a report in from her audiologist: does her hearing
loss require a digital aid or could her needs be adequately met by one of
the analogue aids available at no cost from the NHS?
If the audiologist believes a digital aid to be necessary, then, on the
legal side, it will probably turn on whether she falls within the remit of
the DDA. If her hearing loss is sufficient to interfere with normal daily
activities (I'd reckon difficulty in hearing against normal background noise
would qualify) then the employer has a duty to make reasonable adjustments.
I'm sure a tribunal would take a dim view of an employer the size of a
university claiming it cannot afford £820: less than the cost of the average
display add on OccHealth, to meet the employee's need.
On the moral side 'employees are out most valuable resource'...
Dr. Alan Swann, BM, AFOM
Director of Occupational Health
Occupational Health Service
Imperial College London
Southside building
South Kensington Campus
London
SW7 1 LU
Tel: +44 (20) 7594 9385
Fax: +44 (20) 7594 9407
http://www.ad.imperial.ac.uk/occ_health/
-----Original Message-----
From: Amanda Dowson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 09 May 2003 8:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: deafness and access to work
I have a computer programmer who has applied for access to work to assist
her with payment for digital hearing aids. She states that she feels
disadvantaged in meetings and in the office as project team shout queries
across the room. This accounts for about 25% of her time at work at the
maximum.
The hearing aids are around £3K, Access to Work will pay 80% of costs over
the £300 equating to £2160 meaning that hte remaining £840 needs paying for.
Do you think that the employer to be responsible for all of it, part of it
(say amount equating to time at work involving some form of communication)
or none of it? What legal/professional guidance is there on this?
Amanda Dowson
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