Hi Julie,
I am not sure that requesting supporting evidence would work, my understanding of the definition of disabled is that it is not necessary for the impairment to be established or have to be the result of an illness. Therefore an employee may not have seen their GP or been referred to a specialist. We also now know through case law precedent that the managers need to consider their knowledge of the employee to inform their decision to support the employee in the workplace, it could be something like age related wear and tear to the joints that makes a particular task difficult for someone. Also the management team are best placed to determine if something is 'reasonable'.
Sarah
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie Hassell <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 04 February 2020 21:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Supporting evidence for long term adjustments.
I have been asked to start requesting supporting evidence for those employees requesting long term adjustments under DDA (not advanced to Equality Act yet!). Is this usual practice and how is it gathered (signed consent sent to GP/Specilaist or does the employee request this info from GP/Specilaist)? Is there any evidence that this delays a return to work?
The manufacturing company I work for are trying to address the 7% sickness absence rate and are also trying to reduce the number of employees on long term adjustments (as it is impacting on business and has become unsustainable).
They have a very risk averse legal team so those with regular and extensive absences have not been dismissed, this is especially true for those where DDA is likely to apply.
I am new to this list so apologies if I am asking the bleedin' obvious.
J
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