Disability and the Working Environment

Hailed as a landmark judgment from the House of Lords, an employee suffering from vocal nodules has been awarded the sum of £125,000 from her former employer, SCA Packaging Ltd. The employee, Elizabeth Boyle, brought the case after the company had changed her working environment which could have threatened her voice. The ruling means that individual with controlled, recurring conditions are covered by disability law, extending protection from discrimination to people with a range of health conditions where symptoms may be managed or may fluctuate; this could include conditions such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy.
Mrs Boyle was employed as stock controller; she had suffered difficulties with her vocal chords from 1974 and her condition required repeated surgery, speech therapy and a strict management regime to ensure that her problems did not recur. This involved limiting the use of her voice, staggering telephone calls, avoiding dusty atmospheres, speaking quietly and reducing background noise.

Her employer had sought to remove a partition separating her office from a stock control room; she believed that the increased noise would have substantial adverse effect on her health. She began proceedings in 2001 under the Disability Discrimination Act alleging discrimination on grounds of her employer’s failure to make reasonable adjustments for her disability. She was made redundant in 2002 after 33 years’ service and brought further proceedings alleging victimisation and unfair dismissal. Her legal battle went as far as the Court of Appeal in Belfast before ending up in the House of Lords, then the UK’s highest court. The Lords judgment upheld the Court of Appeal ruling and focused on circumstances where a worker’s medical condition is controlled or not current but could recur if the working environment changes. Previously, the law stated that an employer only had to make reasonable adjustments if the chance of recurrence was “more probable than not”. The definition now has to be altered so that action be taken if the return of the medical problem could well happen.

The House of Lords judgment may be accessed here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldjudgmt/jd090701/sca-...

Source: BBC News, 22nd April 2010