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Hi Julie Firstly welcome to jisc mail I hope you find it helpful. I once inherited a long list of employees who were on all sorts of 'adjustments' and yes it was in the manufacturing sector. This is the approach I took: 1) I would stop using any reference to the DDA as this has been repealed and replaced by the Equality Act 2010. 2) I saw every employee and assessed them against the definition of the Eq Act. The issue was usually a difference of opinion as to whether impairment effected the individual generally, in and outside of work and therefore affected their normal day to day activities. I found that the majority of employees accepted that they did (if it is obvious) or didn't by using the criteria/explanation of what warrants a substantial adverse effect. However, there will always be those cases where it isn't obvious and in those circumstances I did apply for a medical report from specialist/GP (using consent under the access to reports act 1988) to help inform the decision about adjustments at work related to the health condition. I did not ask their opinion about the Eq Act as they do not know the work environment. Alternatively, it may be worth bring in an OH Physician to help with this. 3) I included a functional assessment in reports as this demonstrates an understanding of the work in relation to the health condition. E.g., physical or cognitive challenges, and whether this might change. 4) I think before you do all the above there has to be an understanding from the business about what you want to achieve by doing this exercise as it can cause extra work, cost and bad feeling from employees. I would always want to feel confident that managers etc are going to act on my advice with due consideration of whether they think any adjustments are reasonable/workable/feasible and take ownership for the decision rather than blame OH. They need to be able to justify their decision to the employee, I think that is why sometimes we get situations like this as it is easier to do nothing. I have attached the ACAS guidance on disability which I find useful to have in front of me to show the employee if needed and also a useful document on questions to ask about the definition. I also encourage you to purchase the 6th edition of Fitness to Work by Hobson and Smedley - it has a very good section explaining the Eq Act in OH terms. I am sure other esteemed OH colleagues will contribute to this question. Regards Karen -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Julie Hassell 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 ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH