> Work placements which are subject to a contract or
> proper salary/wage are employment, like any other type of employment and
> so subject to the DDA as employment. This applies even though the student
> may be on a short term contract, as short term, temporary, and contract
> workers are all protected by the DDA.
>
> Work placements, presumably whether or not they are
> employment, may be deemed 'education' if they are a compulsory part of the
> course. As such they would be exempt from the DDA - for now.
>
> Work placements which are not a compulsory part of
> the course but which are arranged by the institution may be considered a
> service, delievered by the institution. As such the institution may be
> reponsible for complying with the DDA and making any reasonable
> adjustments in the delivery of their service. This applied only to the
> service which the institution delivers to the student, however - eg
> finding an appropriate placement, preparing the student and the company
> etc etc. It is possible that companies which offer work placements
> directly to students (in cases when they are not actually offering
> employment) may be offering a service, and so they will be covered by the
> DDA as service providers. However, where the company contracts in some way
> with the institution (as hospitals do for example) this is not a service
> offered to the public, and so not a 'service' in the DDA sense.
>
> The real problem is, however, that even if the
> placement is in some way covered by the DDA, the adjustments which an
> individual needs may be beyond the bounds of 'reasonable' because of the
> short period of time which the student will be working for. This is even
> more the case when Access to Work is involved. Because the AtW system
> takes so long to work most placements would be finished before any
> equipment arrived.
>
> Hope this helps
> Sophie
>
> Sophie Corlett
> Policy Director Skill
> Chapter House, 18-20 Crucifix Lane, London, SE1 3JW
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|