LET ME GO
HReSource > Employment Law Updates > LET ME GO
Date: March 2010
Author: HReSource
© R2b media Ltd 2010. HReSource™
Under the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), employers have to make reasonable adjustments in certain circumstances. In Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions v Alam, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said that employers do not have to make adjustments if they knew or ought to have known about the employee’s disability, but did not know and could not be expected to know that it would have a specific effect on them.What happened?Mr Alam, an administrative officer for the DWP, suffered from depression. On 7 March 2008 he left work early without permission. Following a disciplinary hearing, he was given a 12-month written warning. He then argued that his employers should have made a reasonable adjustment for him as required under the DDA. The tribunal agreed that Mr Alam was disabled and that the DWP should have known this by March 2008. It had indirectly discriminated against him by applying a provision, criterion or practice that