I think "our" experience, and so far luckily not my personal experience, is
that standing in court/tribunal one soon finds out that one cannot give an
opinion on whether a person comes under the DDA, but that one can confine
oneself to giving a nonlegal opinion - i.e. stick to advice about the
medical condition, the disability and the adjustments and let the employer
decide what they want to do.
In many cases, who cares if the person comes under the DDA - why would a
good employer not want to try and accommodate the adjustments? That's why I
have a problem with employers viewing it as a registration process and
seemingly ignoring adjustments if their legal advice tells them the person
wont come under the DDA.
-----Original Message-----
From: Occupational and environmental medicine and occupational health
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Swann, Alan B
Sent: 29 August 2003 09:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: DDA - Human Resources personnel might need informing
In the end whether or not the DDA applies is a legal decision, but I think
we know enough (or should do!) to give an opinion on the issue.
Whatever, our advise to the employer should be the same, whether or not the
case falls under the DDA. If we assess an employee who ability to function
at work is affected by health or disability, we should advise on how they
could be supported. Its then up to the employer to decide on whether or not
to make use of the recommendations and whether our advice counts as a
'reasonable adjustment'
I find, in practice, that including an opinion, where appropriate, that the
case is likely to fall within the remit of the DDA helps the employer focus
on looking at the situation positively.
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: david mills [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 28 August 2003 23:21
To:
Subject: Re: DDA - Human Resources personnel might need informing
In our place we consider that we as Occ Health cannot advise whether the DDA
applies or not as this is a legal decision.
We do advise on the disability a person suffers from their medical
conditions, what activities of daily living are affected, whether they would
be recognised chronic/long term conditions, and also the workplace
adjustments that might be considered. It is for the employer to decide if
adjustments are reasonable. It would seem that employers frequently run
things past their legal team to see if they would come under the DDA. I
think this has created a sort of "registration scheme" which does not exist
in the legislation and was not its intent IMHO.
-----Original Message-----
From: Occupational and environmental medicine and occupational health
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Raymond Agius
Sent: 28 August 2003 10:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: DDA - Human Resources personnel might need informing
It has been brought to my notice that there has been a recent dialogue
between Human Resource professionals questioning the competence of
physicians to comment on the application of the DDA. Perhaps colleagues in
Occupational Medicine might wish to contribute to the debate. An employee's
GP may not be the best person to comment on the application of the DDA but a
qualified OHP should be able to. A contribution by yourself may further
assist in raising the awareness of HR professionals of the scope of
occupational health practice. Other commitments preclude my active
participation, but I felt I should share this information. The site is
www.hrzone.co.uk/item/116938
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